871 Dheepan

[DarkImbecile]

Dheepan



With this Palme d'Or–winning drama, which deftly combines seemingly disparate genres, French filmmaker Jacques Audiard cemented his status as one of the titans of contemporary world cinema. In an arresting performance, the nonprofessional actor Antonythasan Jesuthasan (himself a former child soldier) stars as a Tamil fighter who, along with a woman and child posing as his wife and daughter, flees war-torn Sri Lanka only to land in a Paris suburb riddled with drugs. As the makeshift family embarks on a new life, Dheepan settles into an intimate social-realist mode, before tightening, gradually and organically, into a dynamic turf-war thriller, as well as an unsettling study of the psychological aftereffects of combat. Searing and sensitive, Audiard's film is a unique depiction of the refugee experience as a continuous crisis of identity.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION

• High-definition digital master, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Audio commentary from 2015 featuring director Jacques Audiard and coscreenwriter Noé Debré
• New interview with Audiard
• New interview with actor Antonythasan Jesuthasan
• Deleted scenes with audio commentary by Audiard and Debré
• Trailer
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by critic Michael Atkinson

[swo17]

As a fan of much of his prior work, I was excited to catch Jacques Audiard's Palme-winning Dheepan last night; unfortunately, the mixed responses - especially toward the ending - that have largely defined its critical reception were right on target.

The first four-fifths of the film work quite well: terrific performances from the three leads playing the asylum-seeking "family" trying to make a home in Paris after fleeing the chaotic final days of the Sri Lankan civil war; subject matter and perspectives rarely covered in film; and Audiard's usual skill with striking images in evocative and atmospheric settings. Even the turn the film takes in its final scenes is earned - in its broad strokes at least - by what's led up to it, but surprisingly, Audiard bumbles the execution (pun intended).

SpoilerShow

While the script and Antonythasan Jesuthasan's performance make Dheepan's violent response to a threat to his makeshift family believable, the choreography of the action itself is sloppy, overly CGI-dependent, and difficult to believe in its Terminator-like steamrolling of far too many French thugs. Audiard then gives us an epilogue so dreamlike and overly perfect that I immediately thought of Taxi Driver, and the theory that that film's epilogue is Bickle's dying fantasy; it's almost the only explanation that would make the last shots of the film remotely digestible.

A real disappointment that an otherwise almost entirely worthwhile film so utterly fails to stick the landing that it distracts from some of the better acting and more interesting characters of the year.

Criterion edition announced for May

[Ribs]

French filmmaker Jacques Audiard cemented his status as one of the titans of contemporary world cinema

[domino harvey]

C'mon, his film is both "searing" and "sensitive"

[knives]

We couldn't get A Prophet would probably be the most honest summary.

[domino harvey]

Wasn't the Palme d'Or win for this widely seen as one of the most undeserving wins in recent memory? I haven't seen it so I have no dog in the fight, and the win alone merits its release by Criterion, but I'm pretty sure I remember a lot of "Ohhhh-kay" writeups when it won

[knives]

That's my impression as well.

[Ribs]

I imagine this Cannes, if it does get remembered this way (as I don't really think the winners get narratives of this sort like the Oscar does, except maybe for when Z lost to If...), will be viewed as a missed opportunity to reward the Lobster. But one could also argue that movie was ridiculously successful and widely seen considering what film it was and that by awarding this it's given recognition and attention to something else also possibly deserving.

[Omensetter]

The raves out of Cannes 2015 all went in the direction of Son of Saul, The Assassin, Carol, and most of Mountains May Depart. I imagine Son of Saul was easy to slot in the Grand Prix since it was a debut, but the narrative---insofar as there is one at Cannes---seemed like the Palme would have landed either with the audience-loved, rapturously received Carol or the critically triumphant oblique Assassin, with a director who is perhaps the most overdue for the Palme. The latter proved too oblique for some members, making Best Director a natural fit and...I don't know what they really did with Carol besides give Rooney Mara Best Actress alongside Jury Member Xaviar Dolan's friend Emmanuele Bercot from the critically reviled Mon Roi (Dolan was captured wiping away tears after her victory). At the press conference, Dolan professed to "feel[ing] like a better person" as a result of jury duty, to which Jake Gyllenhaal muttered, "you're not". So, the Dheepan win felt like a shrug. (They probably should have just given it to Carol.)

Backroom Cannes juries can sometimes yield a Rosetta, a Taste of Cherry or...you know, they could just as easily give it to Bille August twice.

http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/ca ... 05.article
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/0 ... ry-fights/

[ianungstad]

Jake Gyllenhaal was on the Cannes jury and he's set to co-star in Audiard's next film. He seems to be a fan.

[chiendent]

Is IFC forcing Criterion to release this? Looks terrible.

[Cronenfly]

Even a somewhat questionable Palme winner is still a Palme winner, why would they say no?

[swo17]

It's not terrible so much as perfectly fine but disposable.

[Brian C]

I remember a lot of head-scratching when Dheepan won also, but all that was mostly forgotten when I, Daniel Blake won the next year.

[chiendent]

I'll admit I'm biased against Audiard and think he's a hack but I really can't imagine anyone being excited enough about this movie to buy it on blu and not just rent it or something. Anyway, I should count my blessings and shouldn't complain too much about a release like this in a month where we get another WCP volume.

[swo17]

It does say something that the least exciting of the TWELVE titles announced this month is the Palme d'Or winner!

[ng4996]

Wasn't Othello also a Palme D'Or winner?

[Brian C]

I'll admit I'm biased against Audiard and think he's a hack but I really can't imagine anyone being excited enough about this movie to buy it on blu and not just rent it or something. Anyway, I should count my blessings and shouldn't complain too much about a release like this in a month where we get another WCF volume.

I liked it a lot, although I've liked all of Audiard's movies that I've seen (i.e., his last five). It's been almost a year since I watched it, so I don't have the details close enough at hand to offer a more in-depth defense, but I even liked the much-maligned ending. I recall that it felt like the logical end to the movie's logic, given Dheepan's background, and the problems he was facing, and Audiard's generally fanciful approach to genre.

At any rate, I'll happily buy it, so ... I dunno, imagine harder.

[Sloper]

Yes, the 'fanciful approach to genre' is the key to enjoying/understanding most of Audiard's films. The main influences on this one were Straw Dogs and Taxi Driver, and looking at it through that lens might open it up for some people, especially the controversial final act. I think it has this aura about it of being a sort of worthy-but-dull pro-refugee movie, but it's actually far darker and more interesting - right down to the subtly subversive ending.

Anyway, I'm a huge fan of Audiard, and thought this was a great film. I have the UK edition so probably won't fork out more money just for a couple of new interviews. It would be nice, though, to see some of this director's early work - especially See How They Fall, which is a masterpiece and only available in a rotten edition - get some kind of deluxe treatment.

[JabbaTheSlut]

Yes, the 'fanciful approach to genre' is the key to enjoying/understanding most of Audiard's films. The main influences on this one were Straw Dogs and Taxi Driver, and looking at it through that lens might open it up for some people, especially the controversial final act. I think it has this aura about it of being a sort of worthy-but-dull pro-refugee movie, but it's actually far darker and more interesting - right down to the subtly subversive ending.

Anyway, I'm a huge fan of Audiard, and thought this was a great film. I have the UK edition so probably won't fork out more money just for a couple of new interviews. It would be nice, though, to see some of this director's early work - especially See How They Fall, which is a masterpiece and only available in a rotten edition - get some kind of deluxe treatment.

Well written! I agree. The end of the film both the finale in the suburbs and the epilogue elevate the film on a dreamlike level. It's about dreams and nightmares, as you wrote, it's not a banal sosiopolitical account or a crime movie with a social edge. But I think the bad reaction towards this films lies in the expectations created by his earlier work. It's a different film from Un Prophet or Rust and Bone, more metaphysical. I think Dheepan is Audiard's masterpiece, his best film.

[Werewolf by Night]

Another Audiard fan here, but I think this is the least interesting of his films to date. It's made well and it's of a piece with his other work in its concerns with the lives of outsiders and its genre play, but it still feels half-baked to me. The turn from earnest refugee docudrama to blood-soaked revenge thriller was very abrupt and, I thought, clumsily handled in a way I would not expect from the writer/director of The Beat That My Heart Skipped or Read My Lips.

Maybe it all comes down to the limitations of his non-professional lead actors. Though he gets credible performances out of them, they clearly do not have the chops of actors like Marion Cotillard, Emmanuelle Devos, and Romain Duris who can bring some emotional nuance to the film that elevates the genre elements.

[jbeall]

It's currently steaming on Netflix, so I watched it, but I wanted to like it more than I did. The plot unfolds according to formula, and the final act felt rushed. And while I get that he plays w/genre, I didn't think there was anything particularly interesting going on here in that regard. To be sure, there were some nice moments, like the gang leader's conversations with Yalini. Still, the film felt competently made, but ulitmately a forgettable entry in an oeuvre comprised of significantly better films, especially A Prophet.

[FrauBlucher]

Beaver

[Minkin]

Svetpan

[Clarence]

The European Union is in chaos.

Yep, It's a Svet review alright.