Un petit frère

For many, many years, people have fled and emigrated. In search of a better life for himself and his family. That is the starting point for this film, the single mother Rose takes two of her young sons with her from Africa and settles in Paris.

Here we follow Rose who is doing her very, very best (based on the assumptions she has) to create a good life for herself and her boys.

The film's star is Rose played by Annabelle Lengronne. Rose is wonderful, even with a difficult starting point, she lives her life and does exactly what she feels like. Often to the annoyance of those around them.

The film follows her and her two sons over a 20-year period. Here I think the film tries to convey too much. It all becomes somewhat fragmented over time. And some questions are not answered. There are some gaps in the story. But still, the film is an incredibly good social drama with many good moments for reflection.

People who are refugees are often seen as a uniform group. We forget that they are just as different as us. The film also addresses the problems surrounding being a refugee and the vulnerability of being new to a country. In this film, it eventually has major consequences for Rose and her little family. But that will not be revealed here.

Watch it if you like good family drama with a twist!

The films follows Rose, a single mother and her two sons, Jean and Ernest, who have recently moved to France. The first third of the film focuses on Rose, the middle third skips forward 5(?) years and focuses on Jean, the elder boy, and the final year focuses on Ernest, the younger boy, first 3(?) years in the future and then a further 15(?) to see how things all turned out. But, whilst quite a lot happens to the family over the 20 years, the vast majority of it happens off screen which doesn't make for the most fascinating of viewing. It tends to focus more on the humdrum and mundane - cooking, cleaning and TERRIBLE dancing are all featured way more than is strictly necessary.

To be fair, it does have a powerful final scene which did engage me, but not nearly as much as the film-makers would have wanted me to because they'd really burned up a lot of my goodwill by this point. Under normal circumstances I would have given up way before the end and the fact that it was subtitled, so I could watch it at double speed, was very much appreciated. It also, to its credit, does not feature an abortion.

I can't fault the acting though - Annabelle Lengronne as Rose does a great job (it's not her fault that her character is so annoying) and the various incarnations of Jean and Ernest are also well done, particularly Kenzo Sambin and Ahmed Sylla as the oldest versions of those characters.

The general film style is interesting with the camera and the actors acting very naturally - it's like you're looking around a room and people walk into and disappear from view somewhat randomly. I'm not sure it fully worked for me, but I guess it's what the director Léonor Serraille was looking for and I can't fault her for trying something slightly different. There are also plenty of the obligatory shots of the Paris rooftops.

The film has a lot to recommend it but, unfortunately, plot was not one of those things and, for me, that lets it down badly. Yes, there's an argument that it's an understated and sympathetic portrayal of a lifestyle I don't understand and/or can't relate to and I'm prepared to accept that, but that didn't stop me being thoroughly bored by the whole thing. And if after that massive recommendation you fancy catching up with it, it's available to watch in a surprising number of places.