Directed by Jacques Audiard • 2015 • France
With this Palme d’Or–winning drama, which deftly combines seemingly disparate genres, French filmmaker Jacques Audiard cemented his status as a titan of contemporary world cinema. In an arresting performance, the nonprofessional actor Antonythasan Jesuthasan (himself a former child soldier) stars as a Tamil fighter who, along with a woman and a child posing as his wife and daughter, flees war-torn Sri Lanka only to land in a Paris suburb blighted by drugs. As the makeshift family embarks on a new life, DHEEPAN settles into an intimate social-realist mode before tightening into a dynamic turf-war thriller, as well as an unsettling study of the psychological aftereffects of combat. Searing and sensitive, Audiard’s film is a unique depiction of the refugee experience as a continuous crisis of identity.
This French-language audio commentary, featuring Dheepan director Jacques Audiard and coscreenwriter Noé Debré, was recorded in 2016. It is presented here with English subtitles.
This interview with DHEEPAN director Jacques Audiard was conducted in Paris in February 2017.
This interview with novelist and actor Antonythasan Jesuthasan was conducted in Paris in February 2017.
