User reviews

I'm not really into french movies in general (even if i'm french).

They are kind like excessive in their styles. Comedy are often "too much", serious movies are like real life you'll to watch (dramatic and boring) but THIS MOVIE have a really good balance.

Kheiron (the director) is known for his stand up performance and also for playing in the successful mini series : "Bref"

I wasn't expecting much of it but a friend of mine advised me to give it a try. (saw it in a airplane)

The story is set in Iran during dictatorship (i don't know or care much about geopolitics). With fun and seriousness, Kheiron introduce characters and their history that leads them to move from Iran to France. This is really a story about french "actual" population and their multicultural background (roots of the 2nd generations of migrants). All the parents have their stories and all sort of background that children don't even know much about it.

Kheiron by this movie is giving consistency to his roots and by extent to a lots of people that relate to this kind of family history.

All say, the movie is entertaining, funny and dramatic all at once. And i hope that it will have the success that it deserve.

Very nice film in two parts: first, in Iran during the Shah and Khomeini eras, then in the Paris suburbs, in France, in a 'black blanc beur' environment. The film rhymes with tenderness, benevolence and delicacy, behind a light tone. Cherry on the cake: it's funny. The quartet Kheiron, Leila Bekhti, Gerard Darmon and Zabou Breitman is excellent!

Two adorable scenes, among so many others: 1) The official presentation of the future son-in-law to the parents. After a deafening silence, the father tries to initiate a Corleone-like conversation but the mother quickly gets him back on track: irresistible! 2) The silent telephone conversation between the father and his daughter: literally incredible but tenderly moving!

Great story, nicely executed and well written. Managed a good balance between politics, drama and comedy. Despite the seriousness of the topic the funny and witty portrayal of all characters is top notch. Great soundtrack and pace of storytelling.

Overall this movie is a sympathetic story about Hibat and his life, going from being a jailed anti-shah activist in Iran, to becoming a French social worker. The problem with the movie is that it suffers from not really knowing what it want. It does not have a good balance between being serious or/and funny. Lots of characters from Hibats life appear, and is often given so little screen time that by the end of the movie, you often dont really care about most of characters. It feels like the movie is made for people who already know Hibats real life story, But that would work much better as a documentary or a book, But really becomes a superficial movie when made into a fiction. When the movie started, i thought there would be a bigger focus on Hibats family with siblings, But besides his clothes Stealing brother, you dont really hear more about the Big family that is introduced in the beginning. Unfortunately this movie could benefit from a better director and a better script.