Poetical Refugee (2000) La faute à Voltaire

Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Writer: Abdellatif Kechiche (scenario and dialogue)
Stars: Sami Bouajila, Élodie Bouchez, Bruno Lochet

A touch too long, perhaps, but otherwise this account of the experiences of a young North African illegal immigrant in Paris is a very impressive first feature.

Dealing with authorities suspicious about his papers, poverty, unemployment, racism, and a couple of tempestuous relationships - the first with a single mum wary of men, the second with an emotionally unstable obsessive (Bouchez in mannered but finally very affecting form) - he struggles to survive in a land that often pays mere lip service to Voltaire's ideals.

The acting is great, the gritty social realism compelling but mercifully peppered with humour and vibrant energy, the whole all too credible.

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