the belier family movie review

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The Bélier Family Reviews

Though not above tugging on the heartstrings quite hard when the mood suits, this enjoyable experience earns the right to do so keeping an earthy spirit to the fore when it counts.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 11, 2020

The deaf, the townspeople, the teenage dreams! All exaggerated but so delightfully performed! [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Apr 25, 2020

A light and agreeable movie; it's not particularly memorable, but it's got nothing offensively bad about it either. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 1, 2018

Between La Famille Beliér's frequent juvenile jokes, redundant subplots and comically misguided performances, it seriously needed some work before going into production.

Full Review | Jan 9, 2017

An impressively handled if conventional comedy-drama.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 16, 2016

More interested in appeasing an older audience that already treats the condition as a wondrous curiosity, rather than moving them even an inch outside their comfort zone.

Full Review | Original Score: Not Recommended | Apr 5, 2016

The heartening story of a young girl realising her singing talent is tempered by the borderline offensive portrayal of her deaf and mute farming parents ... as a pair of clowns that serve as the butt of most jokes.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Apr 2, 2016

The humour - there are quite a few good one-liners - and the warmth, the charm, the pathos, and the topic make it a pleasure.

Full Review | Jan 1, 2016

The careful handling here ensures that we're never invited to laugh at the protagonists' supposed 'disability', making this more about everyone's struggle to be heard, whether they're deaf or not.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 29, 2015

Take tissues and leave cynicism at home.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 21, 2015

Good comedy rests on genuine dramatic foundations, a rule this film surely affirms

Full Review | Dec 17, 2015

Original and in perfect pitch with its audience, The Belier Family is a charmer

As well as ensuring that the film avoids the cloying sweetness of Hollywood's seasonal offering, Love the Coopers, the Beliers' idiosyncrasies strike a gently subversive note.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 16, 2015

[The Belier Family] has enormous charm and humour, a real sense of warmth within the family, and a knockout finale which, of course, involves Paula's singing.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 16, 2015

Uneven as it is ... the film is likeable enough and Emera (a semi-finalist on the French version of The Voice) proves an appealingly grounded screen presence.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 14, 2015

Emera is indeed a winning presence, and it would take a hard heart not to be moved by her rendition of Michel Sardou's Je Vole ...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 13, 2015

This cheery French comedy-drama is sustained by its own rude energy.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 11, 2015

It's a real family crowd-pleaser that's well worth seeking out.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 11, 2015

[Viard and Damiens] manage to project a lot of warmth despite the fact both have no spoken dialogue and their characters tend to be extremely direct.

Full Review | Sep 10, 2015

The beauty of the otherwise formulaic La Famille Belier is the way this affable crowdpleaser manages to twist its overplayed setup.

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Movie review: The Bélier Family (La Famille Bélier)

Moving on, even when a glittering prospect beckons, is never easy.

It’s complicated a thousand fold when the decision to take a particular road in life affects not just you but a host of people around you.

It’s the situation that 16 year old Paula Bélier (Louane Emera), the only hearing person in an otherwise deaf French farming family, finds herself in when her relatively uncomplicated life is thrown into promising turmoil by the chance to study at a prestigious singing school in Paris.

Unprepared for life to fork off in this direction, at least this early on, and only presented with the opportunity after an impromptu decision to join the school choir to be close to the new Parisian boy at school, Gabriel (Ilian Bergala), Paula must grapple with the consequences of leaving home when her family depends heavily on her.

Her mum and dad, Gigi (Karin Viard) and Rodolphe (François Damiens), who are devoted to each other to an annoyingly endearing degree, and younger brother Quentin (Luca Gelberg) depend on Paula to speak to customers at the cheese stall they run at the local market, and to deal with the suppliers and bankers who are pivotal to their business.

It’s a lot sitting on the shoulders of Paula but she handles it with admirably mature aplomb, sandwiching calls to business contacts inbetween fretting with best friend Mathilde (Roxane Duran) over her prospects with Gabriel and later, trying to decide whether going to Paris is something she wants to do, and indeed, can even practically do.

Paula is crucial to the success of her family's market stall and to their life overall ... but still must move on (image courtesy Mars Distribution)

So there are a lot of big life decisions to be made, made all the more complicated by her dad’s decision to run for mayor with the ironic tagline “I hear you” – he is, of course, well aware of the fun people will have with it but all publicity is good publicity right? – her mum’s amusingly over-involved role in her daughter’s life and her brother’s infatuation with the slightly older Mathilde.

As with many French films, there is a refreshing dose of the farcical and the absurd to leaven out the big issue questions of the film, and director Éric Lartigau, who also had a hand in writing the screenplay, uses the more humorous elements judiciously to keep this charming film moving along.

On the surface, The Bélier Family is a lightweight confection, a gathering together of the sort of moments in a teenager’s life, albeit one with way more responsibility than most, that anyone who has been through that time of upheaval will readily identify with.

What adds substance to the film is Paula’s maturity, nicely leavened with some typical teen tantrums and emotional explosions which make perfect sense under the circumstances, her commitment to seeing things through (yes, even when the welfare of her family is at stake but sometimes under duress) and her willingness to consider such a big move at such a young age.

A typical teen in many ways she may be, apart from the obvious, but thanks to her upbringing, forged in family that by choice and necessity is much closer than the average nuclear grouping, she’s been given the maturity to be able to sit back and work out what she needs to do.

Of course, all the maturity is being tossed hither and yon by the usual concoctions of hormones and emotional blender moments and this provides grist for the narrative which seesaws between big dramatic moments and some delightfully absurd scenes, particularly when Gigi, played with delightful over-the-top joie de vivre by Viard, and Paula’s music teacher, M. Thomasson (Éric Elmosnino), who hates the provincial backwater in which he’s stuck, are concerned.

Gabriel is the impetus for Paula's life-changing move but ultimately she makes the decision based solely on what she needs to do (image courtesy Mars Distribution)

Much of the energy and joy of The Bélier Family comes from the near-perfect casting.

All the members of the titular family are a pleasure to watch and together make for a thoroughly believable, hilariously dysfunctional family, who clearly love each other deeply, but also irritate the hell out of each other from time to time.

The standout is Emera as Paula, a past semi-finalist on the French version of The Voice , who brings a simultaneous depth and levity to the role, at times mature and at others, anything but.

She is in other words, a real person which makes the more farcical elements of the plot, and the more over the top supporting cast members and minor subplots work nicely.

So impressive is the nascent singer and actress than even the rather conventional finale works to good effect, anchored by her passion, indecision and ultimately commitment to see this through, bolstered by her family who resignedly understand that life is going to change and they need to support Paula.

It’s not a perfect film – there are odd elements such as the major to do about Paula’s first period arriving at age 16 and the tendency at times to make the deafness of the Béliers a little too comical – but overall, The Bélier Family works a treat, the feel good crowd-pleasing comedy resting on the understanding that life can surprise us and we had best figure out a way to accommodate it, regardless of the complications that may ensue.

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The Belier Family review: Charm and a knockout finale carry French comedy to the end

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Paula Belier (Louane Emera) speaks for her whole family. Both parents, Rodolphe (Francois Damiens) and Gigi and brother Quentin (Luca Gelberg) are deaf, so 16-year-old Paula, who's not, must negotiate the hearing and speaking world for them.

When she introduces herself, she always says in French, "Belier, comme un belier".

That word means ram and indeed, she is growing up on a farm in north-west France, surrounded by sheep, cows, rabbits and chickens.

Luca Gelberg, Louane Emera, Francois Damiens and Karin Viard star in French hit film <i>The Belier Family</i>.

Luca Gelberg, Louane Emera, Francois Damiens and Karin Viard star in French hit film The Belier Family .

The whole family helps in the production of cheese, which they sell at the village market. Paula translates while her histrionic mother (Karin Viard) smiles blankly at the customers, as if unable to indicate that she's deaf – one of a few small irritations in the way the film depicts the non-hearing world.

Paula also deals with the feed providers, the bank, even the doctor, which makes her party to the most intimate details of her parents' love life (which is considerably active). She finds this disgusting but she signs the doctor's words at lightning speed, dutiful daughter that she is.

What none of her family knows, even Paula, is that she has a beautiful voice.

The school music teacher, the remarkable grumpy Mr Thomasson (Eric Elmosnino), discovers it when he forces Paula to audition for the school choir.

Paula goes along to be with her best friend Mathilde (Roxane Duran) and to stare at Gabriel, a cute boy (Ilian Bergala). Mr Thomasson puts them together for a duet, which almost makes Paula's knees buckle.

Of these actors, only the one playing her younger brother is actually deaf. The others learnt French Sign Language (LSF) for the film; they act their deafness.

I can't say if they are competent in LSF, but they look convincing. The gestures are fast and funny; the hands have to be expressive in a family this boisterous.

Nor could I tell which of the actors was hearing or not, although I know that many deaf people are sick of seeing themselves depicted by hearing actors.

There are good deaf actors out of work, but few bring in the audience that Karin Viard and Louane Emera do. Viard is a well-known comic actress and Emera is a new singing sensation, discovered at 17 on the French version of The Voice , where she was a semi-finalist.

The film opened in France just before Christmas last year and was a runaway hit – with more than 7.5 million admissions.

It is easy to see why: it has enormous charm and humour, a real sense of warmth within the family, and a knockout finale which, of course, involves Paula's singing.

Comparisons were made with Billy Elliot although it is hard to see that. The Beliers are a wildly functional family, if a little eccentric.

As Paula tries to decide if she can leave home for a singing career, her father decides to stand against the odious local mayor in the coming election. Rodolphe's campaign posters say, "I hear you!". His campaigning consists of telling the electors to stop looking for handouts and harden up.

The film is very busy, made with pace and nonchalance by experienced comedy director Eric Lartigau.

There is nothing fancy about his direction: it's efficient, unobtrusive, a little blunt.

He allows Viard and Damiens, as the parents, to rattle the rafters with their sign language, but Emera is more restrained.

She seems completely natural in front of a camera, unaffected by her extraordinarily quick rise to fame. Her singing voice is barely trained, but that's part of the character, and she knows how to get the most from it.

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French film review: ‘La Famille Bélier’

It’s the film that France couldn’t stop talking about, and for good reason. ‘ La Famille Bélier ’ (‘The Bélier Family’) has been a box-office hit since its release over Christmas last year, and now that it’s hit Australian shores for the Alliance Française French Film Festival , we can’t help talking about it either!

The film follows the life of a farming family in Normandy, who are all deaf except for 16-year-old Paula. When forced to choose co-curricular activities for school, Paula notices un beau garçon signing up for choir, and impulsively follows suit. With a reluctance to participate, and a lack of respect for the overly dramatic singing teacher, Paula is surprised to discover that she is an exceptionally gifted singer.

But for the young teen, the idea of abandoning her family and pursuing a star career is unimaginable. She is her parents’ reliable translator: sweet-talking customers into purchasing their home-grown produce at the local market, liaising with suppliers over the phone between school bells and even helping out with her dad’s campaign to run for mayor and represent disabled groups in the community.

Comedy in unexpected places

MyfrenchLife™ - french film review - famille

She is wise beyond her years, and we have to remind ourselves that the responsibilities she takes on board are coupled with the everyday struggles of teenage life. We watch on as Paula navigates the scary, unchartered territory of puberty and laugh at how her family can’t help but unintentionally humiliate her.

In the opening scene, Paula dutifully accompanies her parents to a doctor’s appointment, innocently unaware of the embarrassing accounts to which she must bear witness. Then there’s her younger brother, Quentin, who is hilariously intrigued by the sexual world and happy to uncover it whenever he can. And don’t get us started on the scene where the beau garçon visits the Béliers for rehearsal practice!

Elsewhere, there’s Eric Elmosnino who plays the drama queen of a singing instructor. Peppered with a Michel Sardou -heavy soundtrack, his hyperbolic criticism of the choir’s lack of talent is a consistent laugh reel.

Deaf community exposure

The beauty of the story lies in the approach it takes to educate a hearing audience on the challenges faced by the deaf community. While that approach might be through comedy and misconstrued wit the majority of the time, there are moments of touching realisation that make the film so enjoyable. Yes, ‘ La Famille Bélier ’ toys with the unimaginative irony that a deaf family will never be able to appreciate the singing prowess of their hearing child.

MyfrenchLife™ - french film review famille belier

But as most viewers will be fortunate enough to hear the film, they will appreciate a touching scene where the sound is muted at a pivotal point in the storyline. It is incredibly effective – every soul in the jam-packed cinema came to the joint realisation that we are incredibly blessed to be able to hear, everything from sarcastic tone to birdsong.

Throughout the entire film there are directorial decisions made to remind us that we take our hearing for granted. We see how the Bélier family deals with discrimination, or how they get the attention of somebody who has their back turned away. We might think techniques like flickering a lamp on and off or stamping one’s feet on the ground are clever, but quickly realise they’re employed nonchalantly, much like a whistle or snapping of fingers.

In France, ‘ La Famille Bélier’ was a critical success, being nominated for multiple Césars , and winning the Salamandre d’or (Audience Award) in 2014.

Louane Emera, who plays Paula, is particularly impressive. After reaching the semi-finals on the second season of ‘ The Voice: la plus belle voix’ , she was discovered by Lartigau. She learned to sign LSF and made her acting debut with ‘ La Famille Bélier’ , where she also won ‘Most Promising Actress’ at the 40 th César Awards.

MyFrenchLife™- french film - la famille Belier

However, not everyone was happy with the film. The deaf community in particular found it to be inaccurate, falsely depicting their culture. Deaf journalist Rebecca Atkinson’s in-depth analysis , published in The Guardian, stood out amidst a sea of positive reviews. Her critique condemns the use of French comedy giants, such as Karin Viard and François Damiens who play Paula’s parents , in place of deaf actors. While Luca Gelberg and Bruno Gomila, both deaf, feature in the film, Atkinson highlights that the language was butchered so much that many had to read the subtitles to understand the signing.

Others disagree with her. While some critics believe the way the French hearing actors exaggerated their facial expressions was unrealistic, some deaf reviewers felt otherwise. Quoted in The Independent , Viguen Shirvanian said, “I found François Damiens especially to be astonishingly believable in his gestures. There is nothing shocking in casting non-deaf actors. Did anyone complain when François Cluzet played a paraplegic in ‘ Intouchables ’ ?”

Despite the controversy, the film has sold out in theatres Australia-wide and has been compared to the success of French cinema greats ‘ The Artist’ and ‘ Amélie’ .

See if it lives up to the claims yourself at the Alliance Française French Film Festival!

Have you seen ‘ La Famille Bélier ’? What did you think of it? Did it do justice to the deaf community? We’d love to hear your thoughts below!

Catch up on everything the French Film Festival has to offer:

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The bélier family, la famille bélier.

Directed by Eric Lartigau

The whole Bélier family is deaf, except for sixteen year old Paula who is the important translator in her parents' day to day life especially when it comes to matters concerning the family farm. When her music teacher discovers she has a fantastic singing voice and she gets an opportunity to enter a big Radio France contest the whole family's future is set up for big changes.

Louane Emera Karin Viard François Damiens Eric Elmosnino Roxane Duran Ilian Bergala Luca Gelberg Mar Sodupe Stéphan Wojtowicz Jérôme Kircher Bruno Gomila Véronique Poulain Philippe Dusseau Clémence Lassalas Melchior Lebeaut Céline Jorrion Manuel Weber Sébastien Agius Giulia Foïs Noël Sorrente Pascal Duthuin Michel Amsellem Matt Beurois Lou Ravelli

Director Director

Eric Lartigau

Producers Producers

Stéphanie Bermann Eric Jehelmann Philippe Rousselet Stéphane Célérier Nadia Khamlichi Adrian Politowski Gilles Waterkeyn

Writers Writers

Victoria Bedos Thomas Bidegain Eric Lartigau Stanislas Carré de Malberg

Casting Casting

Agathe Hassenforder

Editor Editor

Jennifer Augé

Cinematography Cinematography

Romain Winding

Production Design Production Design

Olivier Radot

Composers Composers

Evgueni Galperine Sacha Galperine

Sound Sound

Cyril Moisson Benoît Biral Fred Demolder Philippe van Leer

Costume Design Costume Design

Anne Schotte

Makeup Makeup

Sylvia Carissoli

uMedia Jerico Mars Films France 2 Cinéma Quarante 12 Films Vendôme Production Nexus Factory

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English French Spanish

Releases by Date

07 nov 2014, 28 nov 2014, 01 mar 2015, 03 jun 2015, 20 jun 2015, 26 jun 2015, 17 dec 2014, 18 dec 2014, 20 dec 2014, 25 dec 2014, 26 dec 2014, 01 jan 2015, 07 jan 2015, 08 jan 2015, 28 feb 2015, 12 mar 2015, 15 mar 2015, 26 mar 2015, 27 mar 2015, 10 apr 2015, 16 apr 2015, 24 apr 2015, 08 may 2015, 14 may 2015, 21 may 2015, 28 may 2015, 29 may 2015, 04 jun 2015, 11 jun 2015, 19 jun 2015, 23 jul 2015, 13 aug 2015, 27 aug 2015, 11 sep 2015, 31 oct 2015, 26 dec 2015, 12 jul 2022, 29 apr 2015, releases by country.

Theatrical 12
Theatrical A
Premiere Talinn Black Nights Film Festival
Theatrical S
Premiere Arras Film Festival
Theatrical U
Physical DVD
Theatrical 0
Premiere European Union Film Festival
Premiere G Festival du Film Français au Japon

Netherlands

New zealand, north macedonia.

Premiere French Film Festival in Macedonia

South Korea

Theatrical 12세 이상 관람가
Theatrical 7

Switzerland

Theatrical 8
Theatrical PG

105 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Fran ⭐️ ★★★½

For me, this is the 2022 Best Picture. Americans should learn that not everything has to happen in their country to be a good movie

Review by Waio Diaz ★★★★½

I laughed, then I cried, and then I laughed some more. A touching film with universal themes about a family overcoming their disabilities, letting go of a teenage daughter, first love, and so on.

Review by Esteban Gonzalez ★★★½ 6

“I am not fleeing, I'm flying. Understand well, I'm flying”

There are times when a film can hit close to home making it hard to review objectively because it has spoken to you in a very personal manner. That is the case with Eric Lartigau’s French film, La Famille Belier, which centers on a family who are all deaf and mute except for their adolescent daughter who has become an important part of their life since she serves as their translator to the outside world. The family owns a farm and sells cheese at the local market. Despite of their disabilities, Gigi (Karin Viard) and Rodolphe (Francois Damiens), are very cheerful and caring parents. Their daughter, Paula (Louane Emera), is…

Review by Mister Cap ★★★★ 1

English below

Natürlich habe ich "Coda" schon gesehen, und ja, der Film hat mir sehr gut gefallen, auch wenn ich den Oscar für den besten Film des Jahres ein bisschen übertrieben finde.

Natürlich wollte ich sofort den Film sehen, von dem "Coda" ein Remake ist: "Verstehen Sie die Béliers?" Spät, aber doch, habe ich diesen Plan nun in die Tat umgesetzt.

Die Handlung folgt einem ziemlich vorhersehbaren Bogen, aber das lebendige Drehbuch hat genug Tempo und Schwung, um das Offensichtliche zu vermeiden. Regisseur Lartigau beweist ein sicheres Gespür für seine Schauspieler. Die hormongeschwängerten Kinder, der komisch-bissige, aber inspirierende Musiklehrer und die Realitäten des Kleinstadtlebens werden alle mit großer Liebe beobachtet. Eine Nebenhandlung, in der Rodolphe um das Amt des Bürgermeisters…

Review by araceli667 ★★★½ 2

Was Coda necessary?

Review by Jaime Rebanal 🇵🇸 ★★ 2

Following the awards season success of CODA (which I similarly disliked), I figured I may as well also go ahead and watch the original film that it was based on and I feel like it's easy enough for me to say that what I didn't like about CODA also tracks itself down to the narrative faults of The Bélier Family .

The core narrative of The Bélier Family is one that drives itself from being about a hearing child in a deaf family and her ability to sing, is one that has been done before by so many other films. But what's definitely unforgivable here comes from the fact that it doesn't have deaf performers playing the deaf characters, which is…

Review by Quintin ★★★ 3

Got a lot of CODA vibes from this.

Review by Bianca ★★★★

On December, 2014

More than I had expected.

Charming all the way!

Review by Cinema Strikes Back 🟣 ★★★½

Sympathische französische Feel-Good-Komödie über eine ganz besondere Familie, mit sehr überzeugender Hauptdarstellerin und wunderschönem Gesang.

Review by ✯ Miloš⑬ 💀↯ ★★★½ 1

It is a French original version of CODA (2021).

I thought it was beautifully made, with a nice atmosphere and story. As a deaf person, what I find disrespectful is that they hired actors who are not deaf to play deaf parents, which is why the sign language didn't feel entirely natural in this movie. The acting was also weak. CODA delivered much better body language, acting, and everything overall.

Review by Alice ★★★½

I loved CODA , but having now seen the original, I feel so conflicted. While I think CODA is an improvement on this in some aspects, it is an almost frame by frame remake for the rest. It almost makes me feel bad for loving CODA, because does it really deserve it? The Academy, and English-speaking people in general, just need to learn to read subtitles and get over the fact that they're far from being the only ones making films.

Review by Rollatini ★★½ 1

This is the very rare case where the original international version is the much lesser feature compared to the remake. Coda (2021), which is based on this 2014 French-Belgian language drama, improves upon nearly everything this film goes for. The direction, acting, cinematography, setting, etc. all feel fresh next to this. And, on top of that, Coda’s casting team even hired actual deaf performers to carry out the story (as opposed to the hearing actors casted here). It’s still a sweet story but I doubt I’ll ever have the desire to rewatch this one.

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‘the belier family’ (‘la famille belier’): black nights review.

Karin Viard, Francois Damiens and spectacularly talented newcomer Louane Emera headline Eric Lartigau's comedy-drama about a deaf French farming family

By Boyd van Hoeij

Boyd van Hoeij

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'The Belier Family' ('La Famille Belier'): Black Nights Review

La Famille Belier - H 2014

The decision of a talented teenage singer from a French farming family to maybe pursue her dreams in Paris wreaks havoc on her deaf parents and brother in The Belier Family (La Famille Belier) , an accessible comedy-drama from director Eric Lartigau that was clearly made with holiday-season family audiences in mind. Debuting locally Dec. 17, this charming and funny if not entirely smooth concoction should largely click with multiplex audiences and has a good shot at becoming a very exportable or remake-worthy item abroad.

Paula (newcomer Louane Emera ) is a spunky 16-year-old with a lot more chores than most; as the only hearing person of the Beliers, she has to frequently act as a go-between for her parents, the dairy farmers Rodolphe and Gigi (local stars Francois Damiens and Karin Viard , respectively) and her younger sibling, Quentin ( Luca Gelberg , the only actually deaf cast member).

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Movie Review: The Belier Family (2014)

How do you break the news to your deaf family that you want to be a singer?

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For a people convinced of their intellectual superiority over the rest of the planet, the French have an incurable fondness for low-brow comedy and feel-good stories. Perhaps they're just like us, after all.

The box office smash in France in 2015 was La Famille Belier , a comedy like The Intouchables (2011) that finds humour and inspiration in a disability. Dairy farmers Rodolphe and Gigi Belier (Francois Damiens and Karin Viard) are deaf, as is their young son Quentin (Luca Gelberg). The one fully abled Belier is 15-year-old daughter Paula (Louana Emera), who acts as the ears of the family.

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The Bélier Family

A girl, who lives with her deaf parents, discovers that she has the gift of singing.
The Béliers are ordinary people: Rodolphe and Gigi are married, have two children and run their farm for a living. Ordinary people? Well, almost... since three of them, Dad, Mum and their son Quentin, are deaf. Which is not the case of the boy's big sister, Paula. And not only can she speak but her music teacher scouts her beautiful voice as well. He offers her to sit for the entrance exam of the Maîtrise de Radio France, a vocal elite choir in Paris. Her parents, who rely on her as their ears and mouth in the outside world, take the news badly. Paula, who hates the idea of betraying her parents and her brother, goes through a painful dilemma... — Guy Bellinger
The whole Bélier family is deaf, except for 16-year-old Paula, who is her parents' vital translator in their day-to-day life, especially in matters concerning the family farm. When her music teacher discovers that she has a fantastic singing voice, he offers her the opportunity to enter a big Radio France contest, and the entire family's future potentially has big changes in store.

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LA FAMILLE BÉLIER: Singing The Same Old Tune

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One of the hardest things to decide when reviewing a film is if the intentions behind the production feel genuine. One aspect that always arises during the Oscar/Award periods is actors doing roles or movies being made purely for “Oscar bait”. The idea of making a movie purely for the sake of gaining awards attention is somewhat cynical, but the transparency of movie production nowadays makes this something that sadly may have some truth behind it.

So if I feel a movie is made without a genuine love for the story, but purely to gain awards, does this detract from the entertainment derived from it? The Family Belier , ( La Famille Bélier ), to me, is a film with questionable intentions. It attempts to make a feel-good movie capitalising on a handicap, but its extremely generic plotting and juvenile humour really highlight the subpar film-making behind it, making its manufactured sentimentality and awards season indicators so glaringly obvious.

You’ve Heard This One Before

The Family Bélier follows the titular family, father Rodolphe ( Francois Damiens ) who runs the family’s farm, wife Gigi ( Karin Viard ) and their two children: son Quentin ( Luca Gelberg ) and daughter Paula ( Louane Emera ). The twist? The whole family is deaf. Except for Paula, who, due to her ability to communicate with deaf and hearing people, conducts most of the family’s business and is the central figure of the family.

Starting another school year, Paula is drawn towards joining the school choir, thanks to love-interest Gabriel ( Ilian Bergala ), where she finds out, through the encouragement of passionate music teacher Fabien ( Eric Elmosnino ), that she has a natural talent for singing. When Fabien gets Paula an audition to join a prestigious music school in Paris, Paula must decide between living her own future or be stuck helping her family out in their farm.

The father Rodolphe decides to run for mayor, as his strong feelings towards farming and agriculture take the better of him when the current long-standing mayor announces he will be tearing down more nature to build another mall. You’d think the film would find a clever way to intertwine these two plots (Paula and her father), even if it was something about singing at one of his press events, but no, the plots never really touch in a way that feels organic.

The subplot is brought up repeatedly but then is forgotten at the end of the film, feeling like something that could’ve been cut out of the film all together and had no effect, apart from how significant running time it takes up. Other pointless subplots, such as Paula’s best friend Mathilde hooking up with Paula’s brother, even when Paula was vehemently against it, is given so much screen-time for absolute no reason. With no storytelling repercussions or significant meaning to any of the characters, it just drags the films slower towards its foreseeable ending.

For a feel-good film, I really disliked most of the characters in it. Paula, portrayed by young French reality star Louane Emera , does a good job with what she’s given. She’s mainly used for her singing abilities, but her acting talents are quite decent, as it’s always a gamble when casting singers in prominent acting roles. For every Tom Waits that kill onscreen, there’s always Britney Spears in Crossroads , showing the drastic drop in quality.

The problem was that I never bought the central characters as a loving family, between how they’re written and how the actors portrayed them, they seemed more like a foster home for deaf people than a committed family. Rodolphe and Gigi, the parents, come across as selfish, having no tact with their daughter as they openly talk about sex in front of her, constantly dote on her for everything and often act quite juvenile for people their age. It’s interesting to note that Rodolphe and Gigi are both portrayed by non-deaf actors, which is something that you can notice in the film.

Gigi, played by Karin Viard , goes so over the top in her comedic performance that it’s distracting. Constantly flailing and begging for attention onscreen, as the film goes on she becomes unbearable to watch, between Viard’s exaggerated sign language techniques and the character’s constantly selfish motivations, all I wanted was for Paula to leave the family immediately. I never felt she had to struggle with her decision because the film made that choice so obvious. Rodolphe is just as bad, smacking his daughter because she got her period, calling Obama handicapped for being African-American and openly ignoring his daughter’s requests because he wants to have sex with his wife again.

The characters in general are written as too unlikable for me to care for the syrupy ham-fisted sentimental ending. Quentin, played by Luca Gelberg , is the only deaf actor in the film and it shows, his performance is much more subtle and he felt like one of the only genuine actors in the film, even if he isn’t given much to do outside of openly hitting on his sister’s best friend.

The film feels quite disingenuous towards deaf people, as they are portrayed as selfish, needy people who are incredibly dependent on anyone with hearing abilities around them. The film’s pitch – a deaf family who has a daughter who can sing, sounds like an easy one to sell. The ironic nature of it, whilst combining the feel-good aspect with the handicap aspect, is one that has been proved popular in the past with films such as The Intouchables and The Sessions .

At the end of the day, this was a feel-good film which didn’t make me feel good at all. Outside of that, it has nothing going for it. Whilst Louane Emera’s central performance is good and she genuinely has a great singing voice, the other figures are so unlikable and feel so manufactured for misplaced intentions that I walked away from the film dissecting its technical aspects rather than being purely won over by its sloppy sentimentality.

Between the film’s frequent juvenile jokes, the frequent redundant subplots and comically misguided performances, this is one film that seriously needed some work to flesh out what it wanted to do before going into production. Are we making fun of deaf people or are we falling in love with them? The film heavily points towards mocking them, as it frequently shows them as dependent, selfish people who if they try to do anything, such as run for mayor, will fail spectacularly.

The film’s final scene, a heart-tugging musical number by Paula, is so trying so hard to win the audience over, with close-ups on characters crying and lyrics that are too on the nose on its morals, the scene is the epitome for the entire film – trying to tug on the heartstrings and make us fall in love, but failing completely due to misguided intentions.

La Famille Bélier was already released in December 2014 in France, and in September 2015 in the UK. No US release date has currently been set. Check other international release dates here .

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The Bélier Family (2014) Stream and Watch Online

Watch 'the bélier family' online.

Fancy watching ' The Bélier Family ' in the comfort of your own home? Finding a streaming service to buy, rent, download, or view the Eric Lartigau-directed movie via subscription can be tricky, so we here at Moviefone want to do the work for you. Read on for a listing of streaming and cable services - including rental, purchase, and subscription choices - along with the availability of 'The Bélier Family' on each platform when they are available. Now, before we get into the fundamentals of how you can watch 'The Bélier Family' right now, here are some details about the uMedia, Jerico, Mars Films, France 2 Cinéma, Quarante 12 Films, Vendôme Production, Nexus Factory comedy flick. Released December 20th, 2014, 'The Bélier Family' stars Louane Emera , Karin Viard , François Damiens , Eric Elmosnino The PG movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 45 min, and received a user score of 69 (out of 100) on TMDb, which compiled reviews from 2,339 knowledgeable users. You probably already know what the movie's about, but just in case... Here's the plot: "The whole Bélier family is deaf, except for sixteen year old Paula who is the important translator in her parents' day to day life especially when it comes to matters concerning the family farm. When her music teacher discovers she has a fantastic singing voice and she gets an opportunity to enter a big Radio France contest the whole family's future is set up for big changes." 'The Bélier Family' is currently available to rent, purchase, or stream via subscription on Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, Apple iTunes, Vudu, Hoopla, The Roku Channel, and YouTube .

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Original title: la famille bélier.

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Film Review: ‘La Famille Belier’

The child of deaf parents finds her voice in this French crowdpleaser, starring young singing talent Louane Emera.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

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'La Famille Belier' Review: The Child of Deaf Parents Finds Her Voice

How many times can movies rehash the story of a child determined to pursue his or her passion butting heads with parents who refuse to understand? The beauty of the otherwise formulaic “ La Famille Belier ” is the way this affable crowdpleaser manages to twist its overplayed setup: Teenage Paula (played by Louane Emera, a semifinalist in France’s “The Voice” competish) discovers that she has a God-given talent for singing, but can’t communicate that desire to her deaf family. The scene in which she succeeds in sharing her gift with them, finally bridging the fact that they can’t hear, ranks as perhaps the most touching moment in French cinema last year. A holiday hit in Gaul, this feel-good family dramedy seems ripe for remake, though it would be tricky to release in its current form since the premise would play best to those with little patience for subtitles.

Still, a remake would be hard-pressed to find an actress as right for the role as Emera, whose convincingly awkward performance earned her a Cesar for most promising actress — and whose climactic cover of Michel Sardou’s “Je vole” (about a child spreading its wings and leaving the nest) leaves hardly a dry eye in the house. A slouch-shouldered, slightly heavy-set blonde whose posture conveys everything one needs to know about her lack of self-confidence, Emera plays Paula Belier, who as the only hearing person in her otherwise deaf clan, plays an essential role in running the family dairy-farming business.

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When her father (Francois Damiens, goofy) decides to run for mayor, it falls to Paula to translate his speeches, and when her parents visit the doctor to discuss a rash that’s interfering with their intimate activities, Paula must once again play go-between. Her mother, Gigi (Karin Viard, stuffed into flower-print dresses and playing it slightly over-the-top, a la Jennifer Coolidge), can’t imagine life without Paula, which means any change would pose a challenge to their existing dynamic.

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At first, Paula has no idea she can sing, but when cute classmate Gabriel (Ilian Bergala) signs up for choir as an elective, she and her oversexed best friend (Roxane Duran) decide to follow his lead. The choir director (Eric Elmosnino, the “Gainsbourg” star whose cartoonish portrayal here offsets Emera’s naturalism) recognizes Paula’s talent immediately and pairs her with Gabriel, to the teens’ mutual embarrassment. Though no Zac Efron, Gabriel strikes Paula as intimidatingly dreamy, and she suffers the ultimate humiliation, getting her first period during an afterschool practice session.

Where American family comedies tend to shy away from talk of sex and bodily functions (only to have the same subjects dominate R-rated comedies), “La Famille Belier” offers a more Judy Blume-like approach to such aspects: The Beliers are a sexually active clan, from Paula’s frisky parents right down to her younger brother Quentin (Luca Gelberg), whose virgin experience reveals a mortifying latex allergy. And then, with little explanation, the romantic subplot involving Gabriel evaporates mid-movie, leaving director Eric Lartigau to focus on the musical drama. If Paula pursues her dream, it will mean moving to Paris, which gets to the real conflict: Can the close-knit Belier family withstand Paula’s independence?

Again, it’s the deaf twist that sets the film apart, inviting several interesting creative choices along the way. Rather than subtitling the sign language, the film typically relies on Paula to respond or repeat what the other Beliers are saying, putting auds in the reverse position: If they can’t read signs, viewers must struggle to understand what’s being said. Meanwhile, oblivious to sound, her parents make a hilarious racket, banging pots in the kitchen and blasting music when they pick her up at school.

Paula is easily embarrassed, and the boombox in the back of Belier’s bright yellow delivery truck merely draws attention to the fact that they drive what looks like a European postal van. During the big school concert, Lartigau mutes the audio so we can imagine how her parents experience the show, relying upon the expressions on the faces around them to see how Paula’s singing touches the crowd — one of three creative strategies he devises to convey how the Belier family manage to “hear” their daughter at last.

Reviewed at UGC Cine Cite Les Halles, Paris, Dec. 17, 2014. Running time: 105 MIN.

Production: (France) A Mars Films release of a Jerico, Mars Films, France 2 Cinema, Quarante 12 films, Vendome Prod., Nexus Factory, UMedia production, in association with UFund, with the participation of Canal Plus, Cine Plus, France Televisions, M6, D8, with the support of Manon 4, Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Federal de Belgique et des Investisseurs Tax Shelter. (International sales: SND, Paris.) Produced by Eric Jehelmann, Philippe Rousselet, Stephanie Bermann.
Crew: Directed by Eric Lartigau. Screenplay, Victoria Bedos, Stanislas Carre de Malberg; story, Bedos. Camera (color), Romain Winding; editor, Jennifer Auge; music, Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine; prodcution designer, Olivier Radot; costume designer, Anne Schotte; sound, Cyril Moisson, Fred Demolder, Dominique Gaborieau; assistant director, Denis Bergonhe; casting, Agathe Hassenforder.
With: Karin Viard, Francois Damiens, Eric Elmosnino, Louane Emera, Roxane Duran, Ilian Bergala, Luca Gelberg. (French, Spanish, Sign Language dialogue)

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The Bélier Family

Hollywood Reporter Boyd van Hoeij [Viard and Damiens] manage to project a lot of warmth despite the fact both have no spoken dialogue and their characters tend to be extremely direct.
Variety Peter Debruge The beauty of the otherwise formulaic La Famille Belier is the way this affable crowdpleaser manages to twist its overplayed setup.
Film Inquiry Alex Lines Between La Famille Beliér's frequent juvenile jokes, redundant subplots and comically misguided performances, it seriously needed some work before going into production.

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Screen Rant

I'll be right there's brendan walsh on reuniting with edie falco, letting his cast improv & jesse eisenberg's support.

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Brendan Walsh is reuniting with Edie Falco for the moving family dramedy I'll Be Right There . Across his 12 years of experience in the director's chair, Walsh has worked with Falco on both her award-winning Showtime dramedy Nurse Jackie and her short-lived CBS crime drama, Tommy . He's also brought his directing skills to a variety of other movies and TV shows, including USA Network's Royal Pains and both Power Book II: Ghost and Book III: Raising Kanan .

For I'll Be Right There , Falco and Walsh not only team up as director and star, but also on the producing side of things, with the former acting as an executive producer alongside Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg , with the latter being a producer. Falco leads the ensemble cast of the dramedy as Wanda, a woman who has dedicated her life to taking care of her family, though becomes increasingly stressed out as her eight-month daughter prepares for her wedding, from which her ex-husband retracts his financial support, her directionless son seems primed for rehab or jail, and her mother acts recklessly while also frequently thinking she's dying.

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Alongside Falco, the ensemble I'll Be Right There cast includes Oscar nominee Jeannie Berlin, Ozark alum Charlie Tahan ,

Jeannie Berlin, Mrs. America 's Kayli Carter, Justified 's Michael Rapaport, Mayor of Kingstown 's Michael Beach, The L Word: Generation Q 's Sepideh Moafi and Get Out 's Bradley Whitford. Having previously made its debut at the Hamptons International and Newport Beach Film Festivals, the movie has thus far garnered strong reviews from critics, all of whom have praised its charming tone, emotional story, and performances of its cast.

In anticipation of its wide release, Screen Rant interviewed director/producer Brendan Walsh to discuss I'll Be Right There , getting to reunite with Falco for the dramedy, the joy of letting his cast improv, how the '90s were a major inspiration for the movie's visual style, and the major support Eisenberg lent during filming.

I'll Be Right There 's Family Story Really Resonated With Walsh

Jeannie Berlin and Edie Falco as Wanda and her mom looking surprised at the doctor in I'll Be Right There

Screen Rant: I'll Be Right There is such a sweet little slice of life movie. I'd love to hear what it was about Jim's script that really sparked your interest to want to get behind the camera for this one.

Brendan Walsh: I think that, when I first read it, what resonated to me — when I read it, it was 2020, we were all stuck in our houses, it was the summer, and I loved that it is a sweet, slice-of-life film, and the overall messaging is it's okay to want to take care of your family and that can be enough. We don't always have to be keeping up with the Joneses and posting on social media to try to figure out — I'm not saying don't chase your dreams, I'm just saying sometimes, it's okay to want to be with your family, and I think that was something that we all experienced in 2020, being locked down, being with your family, being kind of forced to communicate physically, to talk with your kids. I have three kids of my own. That's kind of really what drew me in, and I think that's what drew Edie in as well. In the end, everybody's asking in the film, "Don't you want more?" basically, or like, "What about you?" and it's like, "This is great, I love my family. They give me all the happiness and all the frustration and all the kind of torment." So, I thought that was just a sweet message to get out there, and it didn't feel like a message, it didn't feel preachy. I don't like a preachy film, I like to be like subtly layering a message in there, so by the end, you're like, "Oh, there's a message here!" [Laughs]

Falco Not Only Pushed For I'll Be Right There , But Helped Walsh On Another Film

Edie Falco as Wanda looking quizzically at someone in I'll Be Right There

You mentioned Edie, and I did want to ask, you two, obviously, have history going back to Nurse Jackie. I'd love to hear who approached who first about this script, since oftentimes actors will get these scripts at the same time as a director will.

Brendan Walsh: Yeah, I actually called Edie up, because we had this history that we worked together, and I had this film that I was pushing, which has recently been made, and it was made incredibly. It was called Bang Bang, and I was calling Edie and I said, "Hey, Edie, I need someone. Indie film's going to be the first thing to come back. We're all stuck in. This is what it's going to be like. We'll test. I just need someone to play James Caan's daughter for like three days. Would you want to come out and do this?" And she's like, "You know, it's funny, my team and I, we were talking about like doing an indie film, and I kind of got this really sweet script. Mark Duplass is looking at it, but if he doesn't want to do it, do you want to do it?" I was like, "I mean, if Mark Duplass doesn't want to do it, then sure." [Chuckles] "Of course, of course I'd want to do it, Edie." And I read it, and I loved it, it had a great family of people around it, and that was it. That was kind of how it all started.

I'll Be Right There 's Cast Were Just As Important For The Movie's Tone As The Script

Charlie Tahan's Mark looking angry and walking away from Edie Falco's Wanda and her mom in I'll Be Right There

I'd love to hear about building the family around Edie, since that is such a central core to this movie's story. Charlie is fantastic as the sort of erratic son, and Jeannie's incredible as the grandma.

Brendan Walsh: Yeah, putting that cast together was — Ross Meyerson was a casting director on Nurse Jackie, and, at the time, it was ICM, which is now CAA. Toni Howard was kind of an instrumental person that pushed this film, loved it for Edie, and we got in front of this kind of great talent that wasn't — Jeannie was just such a strong idea from Edie. She was not very involved. I mean, she likes to be involved, she would probably hate that I was like, "Edie was very involved." She had great ideas. Jeannie was one of them. Charlie was, of course, great in Ozark and liked a film I did. Charlie was great, I remember the first day that he showed up, and he had this super long Ozark hair, and we were like, "You're going to shave that hair off." [Laughs] And Kayli Carter was somebody that auditioned through submissions that were coming through, and she just kind of really popped off the screen and really nailed the humor and the heart of Sarah. Every character is funny in the film, they all have their moments. Edie has this kind of very dry, matter-of-fact kind of reactionary response to things, and very quippy. And Charlie's humor kind of just plays off of everybody else, and Kayli was really great at falling in and bursting in with a good energy and humor, and all of them have very sweet family-loving moments that I think really help keep it as this kind of — everybody's always like, "It's a dramedy," and I'm like, "Sure," it's a comedy with drama, it's a drama with comedy, like whatever. I think it's entertaining, and I love a film that gives you a lot of feels. So that's what I'm hoping everybody says after September 6.

Walsh Was Very Inspired By The '90s For The Movie's Look

Kayli Carter as Sarah walking next to Edie Falco's Wanda in I'll Be Right There

I'd love to hear about putting together the visual palette for this film, because I love how it feels very naturally lit, but also very vibrant at the same time.

Brendan Walsh: So the DP is a friend of mine, we've worked together, Aaron Medick. We were going for this kind of '90s indie film look. We were like, "Let's make it feel like this kind of '90s indie film. Let's make it feel warm." We looked at different movies, like, The Tender Bar was kind of a color palette that we kept looking at. There were a lot of old Hal Hartley movies. And some of that is kind of us going, "This is a small $1 million movie, you're only going to get certain things." So, you do things in post, and we wanted everything to feel very organic, to kind of not have it feel contrived, and to set shots where actors get to act like a play, and let it not be wrapped up in everything, and then just kind of move the camera around when we needed to, and not have it feel like the performances are forced to the camera, but the camera was kind of forced to performance. There were a lot of yellows. I don't know how many times we shared cars back and forth, or how many times I looked at cards and were like, "Is it this card? Is it that card? Is it this card? Is it that card?"

Walsh Really Allowed His Cast To Go " A Little Off-Book " (Particularly For One Scene)

Kayli Carter's Sarah sitting on the porch with Edie Falco's Wanda looking at her tiredly in I'll Be Right There

I did actually want to touch on that, too, since you mentioned letting the camera move with the performances rather than vice versa. What was one scene in which you found you really just let the actors go and improv for a scene, where you put all the reins in their hands?

Brendan Walsh: The scene on the porch when Kayli has caught her mom, and she is just realizing that her mom is in a relationship with a woman. That's a one-shot scene. It was not really planned to be one, and it was very hard to pick the take, because it did just become a little off-book, and a little just, "This is what it is, you're dealing with this." She's coming out, and their comedy and playing off each other in this kind of natural play. It's just one frame looking at these two actresses, one sitting on the stoop with a big pile of soda, and the mom coming out knowing that her daughter is going to say something, is going to burst at the seams, and it's just a little bit of quiet, and then she just goes, "Okay, let me explain," and then she starts firing off. I think that was one of the scenes that I was like, "Oh, this is so quick," and I think it was written very quickly, and it's still quick in the film, but it was interesting to let them play with the scene. The script is the movie, the movie is the script, but there was definitely a lot of improv at times. We would do the versions, and then we would be like, "Try this, do this, do whatever, try something out." It was fun for a lot of the cast to play, at times, to be kind of led off the leash and just say, "Oh, I have an idea," and they would come back. We started calling it an improv movie at one point, because I think Bradley Whitford showed up, and we did the scene, and then I was like, "Okay, now what if you say this or that?" and he was like, "Oh, that's this kind of movie." I was like, "Yeah, let's mess with it and see what happens." [Laughs] I think that allows the actors the ability to kind of feel like they're all together, and they're a family. Everybody just kind of asks about the family dynamic and how it feels natural, and I think it's because we let them be natural and play with each other.

Jesse Eisenberg Was A " Tremendous Support Person " During The Movie's Production

Edie Falco as Wanda crying while hugging Charlie Tahan's Mark in I'll Be Right There

I also noticed Jesse Eisenberg was on board as an executive producer, and I love seeing when actors lend their support to, like you said, a smaller movie like this. How did he come to be on board this film?

Brendan Walsh: Jesse and Jim are good friends, and they write projects together at times, or they read each other's stuff and give each other notes. Jesse was actually, I think, the first call that got the script in Edie's hands, and he's been a good supportive partner. He would always be like, "Do you guys want me to do anything?" We'd be like, "Whatever. We don't want you to not do stuff. Whatever you want to do." [Chuckles] It's always like, "Hey, should we ask Jesse if he's got an idea?" He's been a tremendous support person, and he came by set, and he talked to me a lot when I was just kind of questioning things. He was just a great sounding board for all the little problems of indie film that you run into.

About I'll Be Right There

Wanda has her hands full: her 8-month pregnant daughter wants a wedding which her ex-husband is flaking on paying for, her mother thinks she's dying, her wayward son is either going into rehab or the army, her long-time boyfriend doesn't excite her, but her new girlfriend doesn't either, and she barely has time for herself, not that she would know what to do with it anyway.

Stay tuned for our other I'll Be Right There interviews with:

Kayli Carter & Charlie Tahan
Michael Beach
Director Brendan Walsh

I'll Be Right There hits theaters on September 6.

I'll Be Right There

Wanda tries to keep her own life together while simultaneously taking care of everyone else around her.

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Russian kids slip into a mysterious coma in Greek new waver Alexandros Avranas’ icy family drama

Time Out says

Move over Yorgos Lanthimos. Compatriot Alexandros Avranas also has a bleak few things to say about the infinite downside of the human experience in this frosty drama set within the maze of Swedish bureaucracy in 2018.

The Greek weird wave man delivered a tar-black portrait of family life in 2013’s Miss Violence , and his latest is an equally poor advert for parenthood. Here, he muscles in on Roy Andersson’s offbeat terrain to deliver a chilly allegory that follows an asylum-seeking Russian family as it navigates unsmiling Swedish bureaucracy.

Dissident teacher Sergei (Grigory Dobrygin, A Most Wanted Man ) has fled Russia after a brutal attack from the security services, taking his wife Natalia (Chulpan Khamatova, the girlfriend in Good Bye, Lenin! ) and their two young daughters, Alina (Naomi Lamp) and Katja (Miroslava Pashutina), to the relative sanctuary of Sweden.

But it’s fair to say that Avranas is not one of life’s optimists, and his depiction of what the family has to deal with would give Kafka a headache. Subjected to interrogation, their claims to asylum picked apart. For reasons never made clear, Sergei’s professional status counts against them here; perhaps he just does not match the preconception of what a political refugee should look like, despite the vivid scar he flaunts in a desperate attempt to be believed.

This depiction of bureaucracy would Kafka a headache

But, confusingly, Quiet Life ceases to be about the trauma of the parents – at least, not that trauma. Instead, its vision of uncaring bureaucracy gives way to something even more painful, as first Katja and then Alina slip into unexplained comas. Avranas has taken real-life inspiration from ‘Child Resignation Syndrome’ here, a phenomenon reported in thousands of children, often from war zones and experiencing extreme upheaval. He amps up the nightmarishness by depicting a health system almost sci-fi in its sterility. Doctors limit the time Sergei and Naomi can spend at their daughters’ bedsides and force them to undergo a kind of smiling therapy – scenes that yield some much-needed dry humour. Like its near-namesake A Quiet Place , Quiet Life plays effectively on that deep seated parental fear: of not being able to protect your children or, worse, infecting them with your anxiety and uncertainty. And while the Greek filmmaker loses some traction on his film’s satirical edges, he replaces it with something heartfelt and humane. There’s method in the weirdness.

Quiet Life premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

Cast and crew

Director: Alexandros Avranas
Screenwriter: Alexandros Avranas
Chulpan Khamatova
Grigory Dobrygin
Miroslava Pashutina
Eleni Roussinou

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Gael García Bernal Squares Up With Diego Luna in 'La Máquina' Trailer

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Gael García Bernal is no stranger to fighting dramas , having starred in the 2023 wrestling drama Cassandro . His next project reunites him with his Y Tu Mamá También costar, Diego Luna . In La Máquina , an upcoming boxing drama series , García Bernal plays the titular character, Esteban "La Maquina" Osuna. The official series synopsis (below) teases a complex narrative as La Maquina's world collapses after losing a fight, but his best friend and manager, Andy, doesn't think this is the end of the road. Meanwhile, he deals with marital issues when his ex-wife enters the picture. The official synopsis reads:

After a devastating loss, Esteban “La Máquina” Osuna is at a low point in his boxing career. Lucky for him, his manager and best friend Andy Lujan is determined to get him back on top. But when a nefarious organization rears its head, the stakes of this rematch become life or death. While struggling to mount a comeback, Esteban must also juggle his own personal demons and protect his family, including his ex-wife Irasema (Eiza González), a journalist who finds herself on a collision course with the dark side of the boxing world.

'La Máquina' Trailer Promises a Thrilling Tale of Glory and Mortality

The trailer for Hulu 's first-ever Spanish language tees up La Maquina's story as he lives his best life in the arena, but that is cut short when he loses. Andy, Estaban's biggest fan, pulls some strings and gets him a rematch. However, age has caught up with Esteban, and he is not as agile as he used to be. He pushes himself and his body to extreme ends to prepare for the fight.

Andy, who is perhaps a little too eager, does not reveal everything about the highly competitive world of boxing, with criminal organizations having vested interests in the sport. They come to collect when they demand that Esteban lose the fight to fix the match he has trained so hard to prepare for, which might be his last hurrah. Will he fight for his honor, ego, or life, since this organization makes it clear they are not joking? Set against J. Balvin 's "Mi Gente," the trailer promises a thrilling tale that becomes crazier at every turn.

La Máquina stars García Bernal , Luna, González, Jorge Perugorría , Andrés Delgado , Karina Gidi , Dariam Coco , and Lucía Méndez . The series premieres with all six episodes on October 9, 2024, on Hulu in the US and Disney+ internationally. You can watch the new trailer above.

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August Wilson's The Piano Lesson receives a haunting film adaptation

John David Washington and Danielle Deadwyler lead a stellar cast in a new interpretation of Wilson's masterwork, directed by Malcolm Washington.

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine , The Hollywood Reporter , and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight , is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

The Washington family, led by Denzel , pledged to bring all of August Wilson's plays to the big screen in a multiyear project — with The Piano Lesson , they continue that mission. It's a true family affair with Malcolm Washington directing his brother John David Washington , and their sister Katia producing right in step with dad Denzel.

Set in 1930s Pittsburgh, the story follows Boy Willie (John David Washington), as he descends upon his sister's house with his friend Lymon ( Ray Fisher ), intent on selling the family piano to rustle up the funds to buy his own farm. The piano in question is a family heirloom steeped in blood. Originally, the Sutter family traded members of Boy Willie's family, then enslaved on the Sutter plantation, for the piano. Eventually, the husband of the bartered wife and father of the daughter is called upon to carve the likeness of his missing kin into the piano (he ends up carving the faces of all their ancestors).

Boy Willie and his sister Berniece ( Danielle Deadwyler ) lose their father when he, Doaker ( Samuel L. Jackson ), and Wining Boy (Michael Potts) steal the piano from the Sutters. Because of this, Boy Willie believes they should turn their back on the past and use the money from the sale of the piano to envision a new future. But Berniece is intent on preserving their family history, even if she has let the ghosts of their ancestors lie dormant by refusing to play it.

On its surface, The Piano Lesson is a family drama, an escalating argument between brother and sister. But it's also a tale of trauma and the courage that it takes to confront the horrors of the past and pernicious oppression.

Malcolm Washington makes his directorial debut with the film and it's a potent showcase for his visionary, promising skills as a filmmaker. There are segments of The Piano Lesson, particularly in the early expository sequences, that feel a bit stagey and indebted to the work's theatrical origins. But, by and large, Washington both expands and zooms in on the world in uniquely cinematic ways, whether it be his evocative flashbacks or his use of camera tricks to heighten the text's supernatural elements.

It helps that Washington's cast boasts preternatural abilities themselves. John David reprises the role he played in the 2022 Broadway revival (as do Fisher, Jackson, and Potts), bringing selfishness and self-possession to a man who yearns to exceed the oppression of his ancestors.

Jackson has a long history with the play, having originated the role of Boy Willie in the very first staged production at Yale Repertory Theatre. Here, he takes a backseat to the bitter arguments of the younger characters, providing both comic relief and a guiding hand as Uncle Doaker.

Fisher plays against his superhero type as the shy, mild-mannered Lyman (and he is nearly unrecognizable in the role). He grants Lyman a simple gentleness that underscores the man's sweet soul. He's so winning in the role that it feels inevitable when Berniece is finally blindsided by her attraction to him. The romantic scene they share is sultry and erotic, despite the fact that they barely touch.

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It is Deadwyler ( Till ), however, who anchors the film with a performance of tremendous courage and heft. Her Berniece is a wounded creature, ready to snarl at any who would threaten her, her daughter, her memories of her late husband, or their precious family piano. She brims with yearning and pain, her soulful eyes barely containing the storminess of her soul.

Berniece is the one to finally realize that the family can only banish the ghosts of those who haunt them by calling on those who came before. The film's climax is as potently terrifying as any horror movie, using low, canted angles, overpowering sound design, spooky lighting, and gasp-inducing effects (it is in this regard that the text is rendered truly cinematic, amplifying the ghost story at the heart of the action beyond mere suggestion).

Deadwyler is key to that, her performance emanating abject terror as she finally returns to the piano and calls to the ancestors, "C'mon and help me." The escalating refrain is an electrifying moment, Deadwyler's exposed nerve of a performance blending seamlessly with the score, editing, and ambience to hold the audience in a frightened thrall.

August Wilson is a poet of the American stage. In the hands of this remarkable cast and Washington's assured direction, Wilson's work finds its best conduit to the screen yet. The Piano Lesson is a meditation on trauma and the necessity of confronting it in order to free oneself from the ghosts of the past — a message so powerful that it's sure to haunt audiences long after the credits roll. Grade: A-

COMMENTS

The Bélier Family
Rated: 3/4 Dec 16, 2015 Full Review Paul Byrnes Sydney Morning Herald [The Belier Family] has enormous charm and humour, a real sense of warmth within the family, and a knockout finale which, of ...
The Bélier Family
Paul Byrnes Sydney Morning Herald. TOP CRITIC. [The Belier Family] has enormous charm and humour, a real sense of warmth within the family, and a knockout finale which, of course, involves Paula's ...
The Bélier Family (2014)
The Bélier Family: Directed by Éric Lartigau. With Karin Viard, François Damiens, Eric Elmosnino, Louane Emera. A girl, who lives with her deaf parents, discovers that she has the gift of singing.
The Bélier Family (2014)
A hearing daughter, Paula Belier (Louane Emera), was born to deaf parents and has a younger deaf brother in rural France. Being fluent in sign language and French, she acts as the family interpreter and bridge to the outside world - whether it is a doctor's appointment or dealing with customers in the market when they sell their farm produce.
Movie review: The Bélier Family (La Famille Bélier)
It's not a perfect film - there are odd elements such as the major to do about Paula's first period arriving at age 16 and the tendency at times to make the deafness of the Béliers a little too comical - but overall, The Bélier Family works a treat, the feel good crowd-pleasing comedy resting on the understanding that life can ...
The Belier Family review: Charm and a knockout finale carry French
It is easy to see why: it has enormous charm and humour, a real sense of warmth within the family, and a knockout finale which, of course, involves Paula's singing. Comparisons were made with ...
French film review: 'La Famille Bélier'
In France, 'La Famille Bélier' was a critical success, being nominated for multiple Césars, and winning the Salamandre d'or (Audience Award) in 2014. Louane Emera, who plays Paula, is particularly impressive. After reaching the semi-finals on the second season of 'The Voice: la plus belle voix', she was discovered by Lartigau.
La Famille Bélier
La Famille Bélier (released as The Bélier Family in Australia) is a 2014 French-Belgian coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Éric Lartigau. [3] The film received six nominations at the 40th César Awards, winning Most Promising Actress for Louane Emera. [4] It won a Magritte Award in the category of Best Foreign Film. [5]An English-language remake of the film, CODA, premiered in ...
‎The Bélier Family (2014) directed by Eric Lartigau • Reviews, film
The whole Bélier family is deaf, except for sixteen year old Paula who is the important translator in her parents' day to day life especially when it comes to matters concerning the family farm. When her music teacher discovers she has a fantastic singing voice and she gets an opportunity to enter a big Radio France contest the whole family's future is set up for big changes.
The Bélier Family
The whole Bélier family is deaf, except for sixteen year old Paula who is the important translator in her parents' day to day life especially when it comes to matters concerning the family farm. When her music teacher discovers she has a fantastic singing voice and she gets an opportunity to enter a big Radio France contest the whole family's future is set up for big changes.
The Bélier Family Movie Reviews
Buy movie tickets in advance, find movie times, watch trailers, read movie reviews, and more at Fandango. ... The Bélier Family Fan Reviews and Ratings Powered by Rotten Tomatoes Rate Movie. Close Audience Score. The percentage of users who made a verified movie ticket purchase and rated this 3.5 stars or higher. ...
'The Belier Family' ('La Famille Belier'): Black Nights Review
The decision of a talented teenage singer from a French farming family to maybe pursue her dreams in Paris wreaks havoc on her deaf parents and brother in The Belier Family (La Famille Belier), an ...
Movie Review: The Belier Family (2014)
Newcomer Louane Emera puts in a solid performance as Paula in The Belier Family. Mathilde could hardly be more of a sex maniac than Rodolphe and Gigi, who can't keep their hands off each other ...
The Bélier Family (2014)
The whole Bélier family is deaf, except for 16-year-old Paula, who is her parents' vital translator in their day-to-day life, especially in matters concerning the family farm. When her music teacher discovers that she has a fantastic singing voice, he offers her the opportunity to enter a big Radio France contest, and the entire family's ...
The Bélier Family (2014)
The whole Bélier family is deaf, except for sixteen year old Paula who is the important translator in her parents' day to day life especially when it comes to matters concerning the family farm. When her music teacher discovers she has a fantastic singing voice and she gets an opportunity to enter a big Radio France contest the whole family's future is set up for big changes.
The Bélier Family (2014)
Movie. Watch on Apple iTunes. PG 1 hr 45 min Dec 20th, 2014 Music, Comedy, Drama. The whole Bélier family is deaf, except for sixteen year old Paula who is the important translator in her parents ...
LA FAMILLE BÉLIER: Singing The Same Old Tune
The Family Belier, (La Famille Bélier), to me, is a film with questionable intentions. It attempts to make a feel-good movie capitalising on a handicap, but its extremely generic plotting and juvenile humour really highlight the subpar film-making behind it, making its manufactured sentimentality and awards season indicators so glaringly obvious.
The Bélier Family (2014) Stream and Watch Online
Released December 20th, 2014, 'The Bélier Family' stars Louane Emera, Karin Viard, François Damiens, Eric Elmosnino The PG movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 45 min, and received a user score of ...
The Bélier Family streaming: where to watch online?
The whole Bélier family is deaf, except for sixteen year old Paula who is the important translator in her parents' day to day life especially when it comes to matters concerning the family farm. When her music teacher discovers she has a fantastic singing voice and she gets an opportunity to enter a big Radio France contest the whole family's ...
The Belier Family
A captivating new star is born in THE BELIER FAMILY, Eric Lartigau's fabulous, heart-felt comedy hit about a young girl whose close bond to her hearing-impaired family is challenged by the discovery of an extraordinary talent for music. In the Belier family, everyone is deaf, except dutiful sixteen-year-old Paula (beautiful newcomer Louane Emera). She acts as an indispensable interpreter for ...
THE BÉLIER FAMILY
IN CINEMAS 26 DECEMBER! http://www.thebelierfamily.com.au © Palace Films 2015A captivating new star is born in THE BÉLIER FAMILY, Eric Lartigau's fabulous, h...
Film Review: 'La Famille Belier'
Paula is easily embarrassed, and the boombox in the back of Belier's bright yellow delivery truck merely draws attention to the fact that they drive what looks like a European postal van. During ...
Watch The Bélier Family (2014) Full Movie Free Online
In "The Bélier Family," 16-year-old Paula, the sole hearing member of her deaf family, juggles her role as translator while discovering her extraordinary singing talent. When a music teacher encourages her to enter a prestigious contest, life takes an unexpected turn, challenging family bonds and dreams.
I'll Be Right There's Brendan Walsh On Reuniting With Edie Falco
Brendan Walsh is reuniting with Edie Falco for the moving family dramedy I'll Be Right There.Across his 12 years of experience in the director's chair, Walsh has worked with Falco on both her award-winning Showtime dramedy Nurse Jackie and her short-lived CBS crime drama, Tommy.He's also brought his directing skills to a variety of other movies and TV shows, including USA Network's Royal Pains ...
Venice review: the spartan 'Quiet Life' is an unsettling snapshot of a
The Greek weird wave man delivered a tar-black portrait of family life in 2013's Miss Violence, and his latest is an equally poor advert for parenthood. Here, he muscles in on Roy Andersson's ...
Gael Garcia Bernal Squares Up With Diego Luna in 'La Maquina' Trailer
Gael García Bernal is no stranger to fighting dramas, having starred in the 2023 wrestling drama Cassandro.His next project reunites him with his Y Tu Mamá También costar, Diego Luna.In La ...
August Wilson's 'The Piano Lesson' gets a haunting film adaptation
'The Piano Lesson' marks the Washington family's continued dedication to bringing August Wilson's plays to the big screen. Read Entertainment Weekly's review.

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