Arash has decided to leave Paris and return home to Iran. His friends Hossein and Ashkan suggest that they all take a trip through France before he leaves. The film follows the three friends as they travel south from Paris by car, mostly camping at night. They tease each other, talk about France and Iran and life as an emigre, quote poetry, and try to meet women (eventually joining the musicians Charlotte and Michèle, who accompany them for awhile).
The film's laid-back, elegiac tone and the empathetic presentation of its characters are done so deftly and with such economy of means that it can be easy to overlook how beautifully they are achieved. We come to see that each of the main characters is at a crossroad in his life and none of them is quite sure whether his heart lies in Iran, in France, or somewhere between. We also see a part of France rarely presented in films: the small towns of la France profonde. One of the running jokes is that we twice hear a train whistle off-sceen and anticipate that a TGV will soon be roaring past, only to see a freight train come trundling through. It is a pleasure to be in the company of Arash, Ashkan, and Hossein as they try to figure our their lives and Life. The relationship of the three with the two musicians is again so delicately and deftly done that it is a true pleasure to watch.
This warm, humane film is a joy.
