Dheepan

Jacques Audiard’s soul-stirring Palme d’Or winner tells of a veteran Tamil Tiger guerrilla who finds fresh violence in his new life in Paris.

Jacques Audiard won the Palme d’Or for this pulsating tale which again affirms his dextrous skill in weaving steel and heart; humane drama and gritty action. Dheepan (Antonythasan Jesuthasan) is a veteran Tamil Tiger guerrilla forced to flee Sri Lanka following the end of the civil war. The surest way to attain safe passage is to pose as a family, so he sets off with two strangers as his ‘wife’ Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) and ‘daughter’ Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby).

Starting afresh in Paris, they face numerous hurdles, from adapting to a new country to holding down menial jobs and attempting to maintain a sense of normal family life, despite all three being relative strangers. But their world is further shaken when Dheepan becomes embroiled with a local gang, instinctively reverting to his old combat skillset to save the family he’s grown to love.