a hilarious comedy by Julie Delpy about the arrival in a Breton village of a family of Syrian refugees

Julie Delpy’s latest film tells the story of the panic in a Breton village when a family of Syrian refugees arrives, while they were expecting Ukrainians.

Director and actress Julie Delpy hits the mark with this well-felt comedy about a Breton village’s ability to welcome foreigners. Served by a three-star cast, The Barbarians was presented at the opening of the Francophone Festival in Angoulême, before being released in theaters on September 18.

In Paimpont, Brittany, the municipal council, moved by the war in Ukraine, decides to welcome a family of refugees from this country victim of the Russian attack. The whole village, galvanized by a spirit of solidarity, prepares joyfully for the arrival of these newcomers. But given the strong attractiveness of the Ukrainians, “in high demand in the refugee market”it is a Syrian family who arrives in Paimpont. A regional television team makes a documentary about this adventure.

Experienced as a Trafalgar coup, this last-minute change of plans is not to the taste of all the inhabitants, and in particular of Hervé Riou (Laurent Lafitte), the village plumber, who associates with Breton identity groups and strives to sabotage this fine act of solidarity.

Joëlle (Julie Delpy), the schoolteacher, does everything she can to ensure that Marwan and his family’s welcome goes as well as possible, but Hervé’s hatred ends up contaminating some of the inhabitants, frightened by what they don’t know. Even Anne (Sandrine Kiberlain), Joëlle’s old friend, lets herself be drawn into the recalcitrant camp. But thanks to the tenacity of the schoolteacher, who moves heaven and earth to facilitate administrative procedures and raise awareness in the village about the situation of the Syrians, everything ends up working out.

Five years after a film of a more serious vein, My Zoethe story of a family rift over child custody, Julie Delpy returns to her more usual style, the crazy and funny comedy. What could turn into a heavy-handed farce is here masterfully directed by this director whose ability to make people laugh is confirmed.

Behind the lightness of this comedy, Julie Delpy takes the opportunity to point out the fear of immigrants and ordinary racism, which are the breeding ground for the RN vote, but also the heaviness of the French administration in terms of welcoming refugees, without forgetting to discreetly criticize Macronism.

The film also does not spare the bobos and their good intentions, their incorrigible desire to “live well together” and their need to buy themselves a good conscience. So many gimmicks that Julie Delpy bites into with her own character of a single woman and a slightly hysterical activist.

Who are the Barbarians? That is the whole question of this very simple story, tinged with angelism and drawn with a slightly forced line (that’s what’s funny). This modern-day tale shows with irony that even the “barbarians” can change their minds when they discover what is really hidden behind their fantasies and fears. Beyond this political message, it is also life that this acidulous fable sings, which closes with the birth of a child. An event which, as is often the case, signals the end of hostilities.

In a rhythmic production, with well-felt dialogues, the actors let loose with generous good humor: Laurent Lafitte plays the racist plumber with panache (but ultimately not such a bad guy when you know how to approach him), the excellent India Hair gives him the reply in the role of the bland and submissive wife (until not, finally).

Sandrine Kiberlain, as a frustrated old girlfriend, unhappily married, fond of the bottle, Jean-Charles Clichet, the mayor, Zyad Bakri, the moving Syrian father, Dalia Naous, his wife, Rita Hayek, their daughter who falls in love with a son of the village, Émilie Gavois-Kahn as a luscious butcher, the poetic Albert Delpy, at the rendezvous of each of his daughter’s films… We could name the entire cast as each one interprets their part wonderfully in this choral comedy of pure French tradition, on which many spirits breathe, from Asterix, to Jean Yann, via the Splendid.

Gender : Comedy
Director: Julie Delpy
Actors: Julie Delpy, Sandrine Kiberlain, Laurent Lafitte
Country : France
Duration : 1h37
Exit : September 18, 2024
Distributer : The Pact
Synopsis: In Paimpont, harmony reigns: among the inhabitants, there is Joëlle, the schoolteacher who gives lessons, Anne, the owner of the mini-market who loves aperitifs, Hervé, the Alsatian plumber who is more Breton than the Bretons, or Johnny, the rural policeman who is a fan of… Johnny. In a great burst of solidarity, they enthusiastically agree to vote to welcome Ukrainian refugees. Except that the refugees who arrive are not Ukrainian… but Syrian! And some, in this charming little Breton village, do not view the arrival of their new neighbors with a very good eye. So, in the end, who are the barbarians?