Dheepan
Dheepan | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Jacques Audiard |
Produced by |
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Screenplay by |
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Starring | Antonythasan Jesuthasan |
Music by | Nicolas Jaar |
Cinematography | Eponine Momenceau |
Edited by | Juliette Welfling |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | UGC Distribution |
Release dates |
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Running time | 115 minutes[1] |
Country | France |
Language |
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Budget | €8 million[3] |
Box office | $4.9 million[4] |
Dheepan is a 2015 French crime drama film directed by Jacques Audiard and co-written by Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, and Noé Debré. The film was partly inspired by Montesquieu's Persian Letters.[5] The film tells the story of three Tamil refugees who flee the civil war-ravaged Sri Lanka and come to France, in the hope of reconstructing their lives.[2][6] The film's title character, played by Antonythasan Jesuthasan, was a former Tamil Tiger child soldier.[7] The film won the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. It was shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.[8]
Audiard started making the movie with the intent to make a variation of Sam Peckinpah's 1971 thriller Straw Dogs. But he wanted to set it in a community that no one in France knew much about. He and his writing partner, Thomas Bidegain, decided on the Tamils.[9] During filming, Mr. Jesuthasan sometimes made corrections for accuracy.[9]
Plot
Sivadhasan is a Tamil Tiger soldier during the last days of the Sri Lankan Civil War. After the armed conflict resolves, his side loses and he is forced to move to a refugee camp. There he decides to move to France to take a fresh chance at life. However, in order to secure political asylum, he requires a convincing cover story. He is given the passport of a dead man, Dheepan, and pairs with people he barely knows posing as his family. Along with his supposed wife, Yalini and his supposed 9-year-old daughter, Illayaal, they get on a ship bound for Paris. Upon arrival, he lands a job as a resident caretaker and starts building a new life in a housing project named Le Pré . He winds up as a caretaker of a rough housing project controlled by drug dealers (filmed on location in the peaceful project of La Coudraie, in the suburban city of Poissy). The new home turns out to be another conflict zone for him. [10]
Cast
- Antonythasan Jesuthasan as Dheepan/Sivadhasan
- Kalieaswari Srinivasan as Yalini
- Claudine Vinasithamby as Illayaal
- Vincent Rottiers as Brahim
- Marc Zinga as Youssouf
- Faouzi Bensaïdi as Mr. Habib
- Bass Dhem as Azziz
- Franck Falise as Janitor of Hallway C
- Joséphine de Meaux as Headmistress
- Jean-Baptiste Pouilloux as Jurist
- Nathan Anthonypillai as Interpreter
- Vasanth Selvam as Colonel Cheran
Release
Box office
Dheepan opened in France on 28 August 2015. The film grossed $3,882,022 in France and $999,774 elsewhere for a worldwide total of $4,881,796.[4]
Critical reception
The film received largely positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 90% rating based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The site's consensus reads, "Dheepan offers a timely, powerful look at the modern immigrant experience in Europe.".[11] Metacritic reports a 77 out of 100 rating, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[12]
The film won the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.[13][14][15] After winning the award, Audiard said "To receive a prize from the Coen brothers is something pretty exceptional. I'm very touched".[16] When the film award was announced, the international press corps responded a mixture of boos, shrugs and applause.[17] After the announcement ceremony jury co-presidents Joel and Ethan Coen noted that ''everyone [on the jury] had some high level of excitement and enthusiasm for it."[17][18] Ethan Coen called the jury's decision "swift."[18]
According to critic Andrew Pulver, the film "may not be the director’s most immediately electrifying film, but in its understated way, it’s an immensely powerful work".[19] Commenting on the film, critic Jason Gorber notes that besides depicting immigrant experiences and integration, the film "is polemical without being didactic, and its message about human spirit and how connections of love can flourish in the most astonishing of ways is extremely moving".[20] The Independent called it "a radical and astonishing film that turns conventional thinking about immigrants on its head".[21]
Accolades
Award / Film Festival | Category | Recipients and nominees | Result |
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Cannes Film Festival[8] | Palme d'Or | Jacques Audiard | Won |
César Awards[22] | Best Film | Nominated | |
Best Director | Jacques Audiard | Nominated | |
Best Actor | Antonythasan Jesuthasan | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actor | Vincent Rottiers | Nominated | |
Best Original Screenplay | Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain and Noé Debré | Nominated | |
Best Cinematography | Eponine Momenceau | Nominated | |
Best Editing | Juliette Welfling | Nominated | |
Best Sound | Daniel Sobrino, Valérie Deloof and Cyril Holtz | Nominated | |
Best Production Design | Michel Barthélémy | Nominated | |
Lumières Awards[23] | Best Film | Nominated | |
Best Director | Jacques Audiard | Nominated | |
Magritte Awards[24] | Best Supporting Actor | Marc Zinga | Nominated |
Miami International Film Festival[25] | Grand Jury Prize | Won | |
Online Film Critics Society Awards[26] | Best Non-U.S. Release | Won | |
References
- ↑ "Dheepan (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
- 1 2 "Cannes Film Review: 'Dheepan'". Variety. 21 May 2015.
- ↑ "Dheepan". JP's Box-Office.
- 1 2 "Dheepan (2016) - International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
- ↑ "Cannes 2015 : 3 choses à savoir sur "Dheepan", le nouveau film de Jacques Audiard". Metro International. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
- ↑ "'Dheepan': Cannes Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ↑ "Cannes winner stars Sri Lankan former child soldier". inquirer.net. Agence France-Presse. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
- 1 2 "Toronto to open with 'Demolition'; world premieres for 'Trumbo', 'The Program'". ScreenDaily. 28 July 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
- 1 2 Donadio, Rachel (2016-04-20). "For Its Star, 'Dheepan' Was the Role of His Lifetime". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
- ↑ Les Inroks Aug. 28, 2015, Comment Audiard a transformé une cité paisible en zone de guerre pour “Dheepan”, http://www.lesinrocks.com/2015/08/28/actualite/comment-audiard-a-transforme-une-cite-paisible-en-zone-de-guerre-pour-dheepan-11770001/
- ↑ "Dheepan (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
- ↑ "Dheepan reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
- ↑ "2015 Official Selection". Cannes Film Festival. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
- ↑ "Screenings Guide". Cannes Film Festival. 6 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ↑ Rebecca Ford (24 May 2015). "Cannes: 'Dheepan' Wins the Palme d'Or". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ↑ "Cannes Palme d'Or awarded to French film Dheepan". BBC News. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
- 1 2 Chang, Justin (2015-05-24). "Cannes: Jacques Audiard's 'Dheepan' Wins Palme d'Or". Variety. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
- 1 2 "French film 'Dheepan' wins Palme d'Or in upset Cannes finale". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
- ↑ Pulver, Andrew (21 May 2015). "Dheepan Review". The Guardian.
- ↑ "Cannes 2015 Review: DHEEPAN, Powerful With Moments Of Sheer Bravado". Twitch Film. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
- ↑ "Dheepan, film review: Palme d'Or prize goes to - Reviews - Films - The Independent".
- ↑ "'Golden Years,' 'Marguerite,' 'Dheepan,' 'Mustang' Lead Cesar Nominations". Variety.
- ↑ "Prix Lumières 2016 : Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse et Mustang en tête des nominations". AlloCiné. 4 January 2016.
- ↑ "Les " Magritte du Cinéma ", c'est le 6 février prochain à 20h00". Cinergie.
- ↑ "'Dheepan' and 'Paulina' triumph in Miami". Screendaily. 13 March 2016.
- ↑ "'Mad Max: Fury Road' Wins Best Picture of 2015 From Online Film Critics Society". Variety. 13 December 2015.
External links
- Dheepan at the Internet Movie Database
- Dheepan at Box Office Mojo
- Dheepan at Rotten Tomatoes
- Dheepan at Metacritic