Film Review
Such was the lukewarm reaction to his first directorial offering,
Notre
jour viendra (2010), that Romain Gavras waited almost a decade before
embarking on his next cinematic venture. In the meantime, he continued
his successful and prolific career making pop videos and publicity films.
Le Monde est à toi is something of a seismic departure from
Gavras's debut feature, a lowkey road movie that had difficulty finding an
audience. With a talent-rich cast headed by ever-popular A-listers
Isabelle Adjani and Vincent Cassel, this second film has box office appeal
stamped all over it. A madcap comedy thriller that never flags for
a second, it looks like a zany collaboration between Bertrand Blier and Guy
Ritchie, with a dose of Coen brothers madness thrown in for good measure.
Romain Gavras has some way to go before he can emerge from the shadow of
his illustrious father Costa-Gavras, the author of such notable thrillers
as
Compartiment tueurs (1965),
Z (1969) and
Missing
(1982).
Le Monde est à toi is certainly a step in the
right direction, generously scooping up all of the familiar caper movie clichés
and repackaging them as the most deliriously unhinged French comedy of the
year. Despite the abundance of uninhibited silliness on display, the
film manages to be effortlessly entertaining, thanks mainly to the sheer
comic verve of the principal cast, who seem to revel in the opportunity of
letting their hair down and stamping their feet down on the comedy accelerator.
Adjani, better appreciated as a serious dramatic actress, shows a surprising
flair for knockabout farce, positively luxuriating in the role of a domineering
one-woman crime wave. Cassel likewise shows some unexpected comic prowess
as a gormless fish-out-water type, with the equally capable Oulaya Amamra
and François Damiens both lending some creditable support.
Most impressive however is Karim Leklou who steals the film as its sympathetic
out-of-his-depth hero, the likeable goon whose efforts to go straight appear
to be constantly thwarted by bad luck and a crime-addicted mum who just
can't give him an honest break. What
Le Monde est à toi
lacks in originality and coherence it more than makes up for in good natured
fun.
© James Travers 2019
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
François lives on a housing estate in one of the more deprived neighbourhoods
of Paris with his domineering mother Danny. An inveterate shoplifter,
the latter is proud of her criminal prowess and has done everything to ensure
that her precious offspring follows in her footsteps. Unfortunately,
François has other ideas. His one ambition is to give up peddling
drugs and forge an honest career for himself. When an opportunity to
become a North African distributor for a leading ice cream company comes his
way, he grasps it with both hands, but before he can realise his dream his
mum squanders his hard-earned savings and the deal is put in serious jeopardy.
To make up for his financial shortfall, François must head over to
Benidorm to fulfil a commission for a local drugs baron. In this he
is accompanied by his devoted girlfriend Lamya and his mum's constantly bemused
ex, Henry. The seemingly straightforward assignment soon goes horribly
awry when François's contact, a Scottish bad boy, fails to honour
his side of the deal, leading the well-meaning Danny to abduct his young
daughter in retaliation. Before he knows it, François is embroiled
in a criminal battle of wills from which there seems to be no way out...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.