Neuilly sa mère! (2009) - film review
Gabriel Laferrière
Comedy

Summary
14-year-old Sami Benboudaoud has his entire world turned upside down
when he is uprooted from the immigrant hotspot where he lives and put
into the care of his Aunt Djamila, who inhabits an altogether different
world in a posh suburb of Paris. Married to a wealthy man of
noble lineage, Djamila immediately begins indoctrinating Sami into the
ways of the bourgeoisie, beginning with his manners. It doesn’t
help that Djamila’s son, Charles, is a latent neo-fascist and takes an
instant dislike to Sami. Life at school is barely more tolerable
than life at home, but at least Sami has the consolation of seeing
Marie, the most beautiful girl in the world...
Review
The critical reaction to Gabriel Laferrière’s debut feature Neuilly sa mère! was
predictably mixed. A daring attempt to look on the lighter side
of racial prejudice and class divisions in modern day France, the film
has much going for it but its impact is somewhat diminished by the
coarseness of its caricature and its reliance on dated
clichés. The film was a moderate success in France but is
unlikely to be appreciated abroad as it appears to have been conceived
for a mainstream home market. Unbearably crude and vulgar in
places, often tedious in its superficial handling of delicate themes,
the film is difficult to engage with, even offensive, if you take the subject of
racism seriously.
© filmsdefrance.com 2012
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© filmsdefrance.com 2012
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- Best French films of 2011
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- Best of the French New Wave
- Best of French film comedy
- The best 100 French films
- The most successful French films
- Great French filmmakers
Related links
- The best French comedies
- Other French films of the 2000s
- The best French films of the 2000s
- Other French comedies
To buy this film
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Credits
- Director: Gabriel Laferrière
- Script: Philippe de Chauveron, Marc de Chauveron, Gilles Laurent
- Photo: Pascal Gennesseaux
- Cast: Samy Seghir (Sami Benboudaoud), Denis Podalydès (Stanislas de Chazelle), Rachida Brakni (Djamila de Chazelle), Jérémy Denisty (Charles de Chazelle), Joséphine Japy (Marie), Mathieu Spinosi (Guilain), Chloé Coulloud (Caroline), Farida Khelfa (Nadia), Anne Duverneuil (Sophie Bourgeois), Pierre-Louis Bellet (Jason), Shaiko Dieng (Mam), Josiane Balasko (La directrice du collège), Valérie Lemercier (La mère de Charles), Booder (Chef Picasso), Ramzy Bedia (Aziz), Armelle (Mme Blanchet), Olivier Baroux (M. Boulègue), François-Xavier Demaison (Père Dinaro), Julien Courbey (Le prof de sport), Frédéric Chau (Chow Yung-Fi), Reem Kherici (Rislem), Michel Galabru, Eric Judor
- Country: France
- Language: French
- Runtime: 90 min
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