2014 ( France | Belgium ) ( Comedy, Drama, Music )
( French with English subtitles )
Starring: Karin Viard, François Damiens, Eric Elmosnino
Director: Eric Lartigau
A French film evening, featuring two films, firstly this film ‘La Famille Bélier’ starting at 5.30pm. This is then followed by a French style buffet including French wine, cheese, pate and French bread. The second film ‘Untouchable’ will start at 7.45 pm. The ticket price is £10 and includes both films and the buffet.
Karin Viard and François Damiens prove why they are French cinema’s go-to character actors in this heart-warming comedy drama. Here they are cast as the slightly eccentric farming parents of teenage daughter Paula (Louane Emera), who doesn’t share their deafness. This makes them rather reliant on her signing and translation skills, but when Paula discovers at a school choir audition that she possesses the most amazing soprano voice, her music teacher (Eric Elmosnino) suggests she try out for the prestigious Radio France school in Paris. Tough decisions loom in a film that lures us in through good-natured knockabout comedy, but then delivers affecting emotions as the family faces the bittersweet dilemma of a mum and dad unable to appreciate their daughter’s remarkable gift.
This cheery French comedy-drama works on many levels: as a rites-of-passage story, a rustic family tale, a movie about deafness, a film about singing and a study in small-town politics.
(1hr 46min)