Ibrahim Burama Darboe

Abbas (Eriq Ebouaney), a college professor and father of two, seeks political asylum in France after fleeing the civil war that has raged in the Central African Republic since 2013. Widowed when his wife died in attempting to escape the country with him, he has since met Carole (Sandrine Bonnaire), who consoles him in his anguish at the French immigration system. Two years of waiting finally elicit a response from the authorities. Everything he holds dear, including his hopes for both his future and those of his children, lie in their decision. Ebouaney and Bonnaire both give compelling performances, while Haroun masterfully contrasts the intimacy of human relationships with the cold bureaucracy of a vast, impersonal system.

Maxime runs a small ambulance company, which is on the verge of going bust. His professional problems are coming between him and his family; his kids don’t talk to him and his wife is cheating on him. Then a call from the police informs him that his mother, Olga, has been arrested. He goes to bail her out, and on their way back home they pick up a child, Tiemoko, whose mother is about to be evicted, and whom Olga has promised to hide. Maxime takes his mother and Tiemoko back to her place and decides to stay for the weekend in the house where he grew up to get away from his own problems. It’s an opportunity for the son to remember where he comes from, and therefore who he is. Seeing Olga takes him back to his happy childhood. Behind their eternal arguing, his parents give the impression of a loving couple with generous values – a couple that always served as a model for him. But time passes. He has to face up to the fact that this happiness is theirs, not his. This life is their life. Now, he has to deal with his own, by trying to give as much as he has received.