Le Ciel, les oiseaux,... et ta mère! (1999)
Directed by Djamel Bensalah

Film Review

This first full-length film from 22-year old French film director Djamal Bensalah is a stylish and exuberant teen comedy which was, despite its modest budget, a box office hit in France.  The film does have some obvious shortcomings - a rambling plot, repetitive situations, some unsubtle treatment of racial prejudice - but its exuberant sense of fun and true-to-life characters somehow carry it through. The dialogue is fast and witty, offering the occasional intelligent observation, although the film is somewhat over-chatty and relies heavily on references to French culture, making it perhaps less attractive to a non-French speaking audience. Over the decade and a half following this auspicious debut Bensalah has directed four more films, including Le Raid (2002) and Beur sur la ville (2011), as well as scripting the popular comedy Neuilly sa mère! (2009). The writer-director shows a particular penchant for tackling race-related themes in an innovative and humorous fashion.

Le Ciel, les oiseaux,... et ta mère! has a rough and ready feel which reflects the precarious lives of the protagonists played by promising newcomers Jamel Debbouze, Stéphane Soo Mongo, Lorànt Deutsch and Julien Courbey. Of these four, Debbouze would enjoy the most meteroric rise to fame, through the French television channel Canal+'s satirical show, Nulle part ailleurs, which led to appearances in films such as Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) and Astérix et Obélix Mission Cléopâtre (2002). Deutsch has also carved out a respectable screen career for himself, appearing in such high-profile films as Ripoux 3 (2003) and Tu seras mon fils (2011).

One peculiarity of Bensalah's film is that it manages to be both scrappy and classy. The inclusion of low resolution home-video sequences make this look like an amateur production, but then there is a slick sequence where one of the boys (a fan of classic cinema) is transported back to 1940s Hollywood as he tries to chat up a girl which would not be out of placed in a polished rom-com. Likewise, the soundtrack flips between romantic classical music and trendy hip-hop.  Le Ciel, les oiseaux,... et ta mère! is a likeably ragged film that constantly takes you by surprise, and therein lies much of its charm.

Film Synopsis

Four adolescent young men from a rough Parisian housing estate win first prize in an amateur film-making competition, the prize being a dream holiday in the seaside down of Biarritz.  They set out for their holiday with high hopes but within a few days they are out of money and have nothing much to do.  They are determined to pick up some female company...