(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Dheepan
Director: Jacques Audiard, photo: Éponine Momenceau
With his seventh feature film, Jacques Audiard finally won the Golden Palm at this year's Cannes Film Festival, after strong films such as The Prophet (who was awarded the "Second Prize" Jury Grand Prix and became his international breakthrough) and Rust and bones in the main competition at the same festival. Several commentators even believed that the French filmmaker was given the award because it was "his turn" and / or because it had a "right" theme, and pointed out – possibly rightly – that Dheepan is not Audiard's best movie.
But one can also see the decision as recognition of a brave film that wants to spark debate about more than just its current refugee theme. Consequently, I would think that the prize was well deserved, well worth noting without having seen all the films it competed for. Dheepan is, in my eyes, both molded, artful and in every way compelling, at least until the last act takes a genre turn many will have problems with.
Escape from Sri Lanka. But let's not start with the end. Far more natural is to say a few words about the film's short but effective impact, which takes place in Sri Lanka. Here we are introduced to the main character Sivadhasan, who must hide his background as guerrilla warring Tamil tigers in order to get out of the constantly war-torn country. Therefore, he has secured passports from a dead man with the same first name as the film, as well as from this person's wife and children. Sivadhasan allies with the young woman Yalini to pretend to be his wife, who in turn finds a girl among the refugees who can go to be their nine-year-old daughter.
With the help of a smuggler and hopes of being granted a residence permit as a family, they set course for the western part of the world. The stripped-down, introductory storytelling then shows how they feed themselves as street sellers in Paris, until a sympathetic interpreter at the refugee reception guides them in the direction of the "right" answers. Then the fictitious family is assigned a social apartment in one of the French capital's underprivileged suburbs, where Dheepan is to work as a janitor as part of the offer.
Obtained by the violence. As they try to find their way in the new and unknown country, the three refugees have to uphold the falsehood of the local community that they are a family – without necessarily matching them. Where Dheepan has in fact lost both wife and children, Yalini has very limited experience with young children, and is hardly even an adult. The daughter of the constructed family, Illayalal, begins with a special class at the school, where she learns the language and to a certain extent integrates faster than her fresh parents. But like them, she is also strongly influenced by the experiences from which she has fled.
The underlying violence also threatens to return to their lives. Gradually, Dheepan is sought out by other Tamil tigers who want him active again, but more consistently is the brutality of their new neighborhood, which is the base for a group of drug sellers. Not least, Yalani comes close to this environment as she is hired to cook and take care of a caring, elderly man. He turns out to be the uncle of one of the leaders in the drug league, to which Yalani has some attraction. While Dheepan seems to have to use his experience of the old country to deal with the gang settlements he is now in the middle of.
A study of the family. Dheepan is an insightful and well-observed portrayal of how it may seem to arrive in a foreign country and to acquire this culture. The film makes a point of how the traumas from the conflict area they have left are constantly present as a backdrop for the three central characters. But Audiard also lets go of lighter moments of laughter and humor, in a way that makes the film both more vivid and less oppressive. Dheepan is then also a film about far more than being a refugee from a conflict area. It is about finding belonging on a more general level and, not least, it is an interesting and not so little original study of the family as institution and social construction.
Debuting actors. The film is no less brave considering that the leading role-holders are all debutants. Antonythasan Jesuthasan who plays Sivadhasan / Dheepan has his own background as a child soldier for the Tamil tigers, and must have used his own experience in the role interpretation. He fled Sri Lanka in the late 80s and ended up in France in 1993, where he established himself as a writer of novels, essays and plays. Jesuthasan has previously starred in the Indian film Sent from 2011, but i Dheepan he has his first starring role. Kaliaswari Srinivasi, who plays Yalini, is in turn an Indian stage actor, who is making her film debut here. So does child actor Claudine Vinasithamby in the role of llaylay.
They all mark themselves as faces you are likely to see more of on the canvas. Their intense and nuanced performance is also solid testimony to Audiard's ability to bring out the best in his actors, whether they are established stars (such as Marion Cotillard in Rust and Bones) or little experienced in the subject.
Audiard comes from French film's strong tradition of modern social realism, and has a clear class perspective in its narratives.
Poetic social realism. Although The Prophet was a prison thriller and Rust and bones a romantic drama, there is nevertheless a line of social news and social involvement through these and Dheepan. Audiard comes from French film's strong tradition of modern social realism, and has a clear class perspective in its narratives (which was also noticeable in the more melodramatically arranged Rust and bones). Dheepan can thus be read as a description of the refugees as the new subclass.
It is, however, a complex film in which the filmmaker has continued the stylized, more poetically arranged sequences that were also to be found in Rust and Bones, in combination with the aforementioned, rather harsh realism. The film is both character drama, social study and suspense film – the latter with some pretty traditional elements. At its core tells Dheepan namely, a classic story of a protagonist who has tentatively abandoned a life of violence, where this past threatens to catch up with him as old acquaintances and new dangers emerge in his current existence – which also includes the woman he develops feelings for. But even if one chooses to see the film more as a thriller than a drama, most people will be surprised by the film's final act – which is difficult to discuss without the occasional "spoiler" (this is intended as a warning) before further reading).
Not least, the film is an interesting and not so little original study of the family as institution and social construction.
Problematic climax. Towards the end, the film takes a hard and brutal step towards a "vigilante" tale, with Martin Scorsese's masterful Taxi Driver as an obvious reference. This sequence is undeniably fascinating and well-crafted, but can – at least with a certain delusion – be considered both unmusical and out of place. Not only is much of the established credibility broken, but you can also question the film's morals (as you often can and should within vigilantsub-genre), as the climactic outpouring of violence implies a certain catharsis for the practitioner. But it should also be said that the film's ending, and then primarily its epilogue, is not necessarily meant to be read literally – and with this, the narrative opens up for some noticeable more interesting interpretation.
So it is this finale that has divided the film's audience into two, or really several camps, with myself among the more ambivalent. But nevertheless, it does Dheepan into a fearless and challenging genre hybrid from one of France's most accomplished and exciting filmmakers.
Huser is a film critic in Ny Tid.
alekshuser@ Gmail.com
