Dans La Vie

Tuesday, March 25. Grammar class: Cause and Consequence.


Stop at traitteur and get: moussaka, carrots with butter and cumin, spinach, fondu aux poireaux (creamed leeks, as far as I can tell!) and egg custard. This will be my dinner for a couple of days.

This evening, I go to see a lovely little film at the cinema around the corner: Dans la vie. Half in French and half in Arabic, which (believe it or not) makes it easier for me to follow the subtleties of the plot because the Arabic parts have French subtitles which I can read!

Here's a synopsis:
Esther, an older Jewish woman who is wheelchair-bound, needs full time assistance. But she is very unhappy with her situation and treats her caretakers badly. The last one has just quit, and her son (a neurologist) doesn't know what to do. Enter Selima, the nurse of the day, who proposes the services of her mother, Halima, a practising Muslim. Needless to say, this is not without its complications, but a real complicity and closeness grows between these two women. The clash between the two cultures takes a backseat to the personal relationship.

So what about the movie theatre? The box office is on the ground floor where you enter. All six of the theatres are downstairs. This one is shown in Salle 6 for which we go downstairs, upstairs, around a corner and down again! It a small theatre but what is more interesting is the fact that the screen is smallish. (Not much larger, I bet, than some Americans have in their home-theatre setups.) It certainly is not the huge screen that we are used to seeing in movie theatres. It would be interesting to know whether the other 5 theatres (showing more "popular" films) have bigger screens. It's fabulous, however, that this 6-screen theatre has been crammed into the very heart of Paris!

The film is only 73 minutes long and apparently was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. I just googled the film (it's called "Two Ladies" in English) and, if you're interested, this is a much more complete description from the TIFF website:

"Philippe Faucon’s new film is a wonderfully written and performed morality tale about Jewish and Arab relations set in a decidedly down-to-earth milieu. What sets the film apart is a narrative that employs women as its central characters. While men are present, Dans la vie revolves around three women and the small negotiations they make in their lives to accommodate one another.
Set in contemporary France, the film first introduces us to a young Arab nurse who suffers racist comments while she does her rounds changing patients’ dressings. Fed up with the mistreatment, Sélima (Sabrina Ben Abdallah) applies for, and gets, a job caring for Esther (Ariane Jacquot) – an elderly Jewish woman. At home, Sélima is surrounded by anti-Semitic feelings brought on by current Israeli military actions that distress and anger her mother, Halima (Zohra Mouffok). Out of this dynamic, Faucon spins a beautiful tale of generational and religious differences.
As fate would have it, Esther is in fact French-Algerian. She lived in Africa for many years as a young woman, where she and her family were victims of the era’s anti-Jewish laws; so she has a sensitivity toward Arab culture and society. The story gets even more interesting when a young hijab-wearing family friend with highly conservative religious views comes to stay with Sélima and her mother. At the same time, Halima finds herself helping her daughter care for Esther, bringing the two elderly women, full of pent-up feelings, together. The tension comes to a head when circumstances force the Arab family to bring the ailing Jewish woman into their home.
Faucon provides a series of marvellous moments in Dans la vie. He consistently confounds our expectations, but the warmth of character and situation engages our emotions throughout. Each of the three central women is a completely rounded character, full of the inherited history of her culture, yet finally open to an engagement with others that proves to be life-affirming. Dans la vie carries lessons for all of us in this confusing moment in time.
Piers Handling

Philippe Faucon was born in Oujda, Morocco, and studied at L’Université d’Aix-en-Provence in France. His feature films include L’Amour (89), Sabine (92), Muriel fait le désespoir de ses parents (95), Mes dix-sept ans (96), Les Étrangers (99), Samia (00), Grégoire peut mieux faire (01), La Trahison (05) and Dans la vie (07). "

It's worth seeing (if you can find it). My two cents.