THE PLOT THUS FAR
A young, extroverted left-wing activist who sleeps with her political opponents to convert them to her cause is successful until she meets her match.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
This politically infused comedy follows the crusade of Baya, a left-wing femme fatale who seeks to rescue right-wing men from their conservative values by taking them on as lovers — until she meets a man whose beliefs are as firmly set as her own. While the full complexity of the characters’ struggles is shown, it is always with a subtlety that keeps the movie grounded. The conversion of ancestral suffering into a cachet, to be readily exploited for the social needs of youth; the feelings of inadequacy in the presence of our parents, whose enormous ordeals seem to render our own difficulties trivial; the mental prisons we build for ourselves in order to establish emotional security; all of these intricate webs of social determinants and individual aspirations are depicted with just the right balance of sympathy and objectivity.
Baya’s father is from Algeria and vividly remembers the French Army shooting many of his relatives in the war. Her mother is a hippie who thinks everything non-French is fascinating which is why she marries a man with the last name Benmahmoud. Arthur’s folks at first appear to be the exact opposite of the first couple and are shown boring and set in their specific way of life. However, there is a lingering secret past with Arthur’s mother which is not necessarily hidden from view, but takes on more of a role as the film progresses.
The DVD comes with deleted scenes, featurettes and trailers. More impressively is the fact that the A/V Quality is pretty strong for a foreign drama. The Dolby mix didn’t have strong back channel performance, but we’re still getting some action back there. A commentary on the disc would’ve gone a long way to help explain the material to new audiences. In the end, I’d recommend a rental before a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!
