Following an incident during one of his lessons, instantly relayed on social networks and gone viral, Jacques Romand, a history-geography teacher, feels he can no longer practice his profession in satisfactory conditions. He therefore resigns.
A widower, with his daughter living faraway in Toronto, he leads a solitary life in a house now too big for him. The monontony of his days is only punctuated by occasional visits to his friends. On the other hand, his passion for antiquarian books, which he collects and occasionally restores, helps him to recharge his batteries.
One day, while shopping in a convenience store, he witnesses an attempted robbery and an assault on the manager by three young people. Flying to the shopkeeper's rescue, he manages to restrain one of the criminals. The assailant in question, a Roma teenager, is arrested but gets released as of the next morning.
Worse,Victor (as he is known), who has been unable to bring the money expected to his gang boss , has developed a grudge against Jacques. To carry out his revenge he decides to rob him and breaks into his home. But after turning everything upside down, the young delinquent, malnourished and sleep-deprived, slumps onto the bed and falls asleep.
Back home, Jacques discovers the boy and realizing his state of physical decay does not call the police but decides to help him instead. To begin with, he calls in a doctor friend to examine Victor.
Then, as he struggles to establish a dialogue with Victor, Jacques discovers a teenager manipulated and mistreated by his uncle, the leader of a gang of young thieves. He also realizes that the youngster is illiterate but intelligent: didn't he learn English all by himself by watching Youtube?
But helping the young Roma, is not an easy task: without an address or a fixed abode, neither the police nor social services can intervene.
Undaunted, obsessed by the desire to get the young man out of his rut, Jacques will use every means at his disposal (including one astonishing one, but let's not spoil the story!) to educate him and tear him away from his noxious environment so that he becomes a man worthy of the name.
Nicolas Boukhrief films this touching story (co-written with Eric Besnard) with frankness, honesty and simplicity. A sobriety that translates into a no-frills direction entirely at the service of dramatic efficiency. As a result, we follow the story with constant interest, from the first to the last minute.
For his part, Vincent Lindon gives 100% of himself to his character of a loner at a crossroads. But the director's real stroke of genius is his discovery of the actor ideally suited to the role , Stefan Virgil Stoica. Scouted at a Romanian drama school. Without someone of Stoica's talent in the key role, the film would not have worked. But Stoica delivers an impeccable performance : his modern-day Oliver Twist, both irritating and endearing, is close to perfection, making this social drama ring true.
If you like well-told stories, good actors and interesting themes, consider "Comme un fils" as a must-see.
A widower, with his daughter living faraway in Toronto, he leads a solitary life in a house now too big for him. The monontony of his days is only punctuated by occasional visits to his friends. On the other hand, his passion for antiquarian books, which he collects and occasionally restores, helps him to recharge his batteries.
One day, while shopping in a convenience store, he witnesses an attempted robbery and an assault on the manager by three young people. Flying to the shopkeeper's rescue, he manages to restrain one of the criminals. The assailant in question, a Roma teenager, is arrested but gets released as of the next morning.
Worse,Victor (as he is known), who has been unable to bring the money expected to his gang boss , has developed a grudge against Jacques. To carry out his revenge he decides to rob him and breaks into his home. But after turning everything upside down, the young delinquent, malnourished and sleep-deprived, slumps onto the bed and falls asleep.
Back home, Jacques discovers the boy and realizing his state of physical decay does not call the police but decides to help him instead. To begin with, he calls in a doctor friend to examine Victor.
Then, as he struggles to establish a dialogue with Victor, Jacques discovers a teenager manipulated and mistreated by his uncle, the leader of a gang of young thieves. He also realizes that the youngster is illiterate but intelligent: didn't he learn English all by himself by watching Youtube?
But helping the young Roma, is not an easy task: without an address or a fixed abode, neither the police nor social services can intervene.
Undaunted, obsessed by the desire to get the young man out of his rut, Jacques will use every means at his disposal (including one astonishing one, but let's not spoil the story!) to educate him and tear him away from his noxious environment so that he becomes a man worthy of the name.
Nicolas Boukhrief films this touching story (co-written with Eric Besnard) with frankness, honesty and simplicity. A sobriety that translates into a no-frills direction entirely at the service of dramatic efficiency. As a result, we follow the story with constant interest, from the first to the last minute.
For his part, Vincent Lindon gives 100% of himself to his character of a loner at a crossroads. But the director's real stroke of genius is his discovery of the actor ideally suited to the role , Stefan Virgil Stoica. Scouted at a Romanian drama school. Without someone of Stoica's talent in the key role, the film would not have worked. But Stoica delivers an impeccable performance : his modern-day Oliver Twist, both irritating and endearing, is close to perfection, making this social drama ring true.
If you like well-told stories, good actors and interesting themes, consider "Comme un fils" as a must-see.
