In order to escape the civil war in Sri Lanka, former soldier Dheepan, a young woman and a little girl pose as a family to flee to France to take a fresh chance at life. Upon arrival, he lands a job as a resident caretaker and starts building a new life in a housing project in Le Pré-Saint-Gervais, a northeastern suburb of Paris, which turns out to be another conflict zone for him.
17 June 1986, France
14 March 1967, Meknes, Morocco
January 01, 2017
Hard-hitting, beautifully shot and wonderfully acted.
June 09, 2016
A Jacques Audiard movie looks deceptively naturalistic, but it's as tightly coiled as a thriller and it hides allegories. Despite a controversial left-hand turn in the final moments, "Dheepan" is no exception.
June 09, 2016
Like the best fiction, it takes the most incomprehensible stories of our time and makes them hauntingly, inescapably clear.
June 17, 2016
The film simmers and builds until it boils over in an explosive climax. And it shows how far people will go just to be able to cling to some semblance of hope.
June 02, 2016
For three-quarters of its running time, "Dheepan" feels like something special.
November 08, 2016
Powerful, violent movie about three Sri Lankan refugees.
August 08, 2016
Engaging enough for the duration but muddled and ill-conceived.
December 11, 2016
Terrific right up until a point near the end where it becomes kind of actively terrible in a really bold, gaudy way.
December 18, 2016
The rich, well-acted drama doesn't gain much from an awkward shift into violent gangster-related action. Still, Audiard stages the urban warfare with his usual muscular flair, and this is a film that keeps hold of your attention.
June 10, 2016
Shooting on actual locations and with a cast of nonprofessional actors, writer-director Jacques Audiard keeps the neorealism pumping until a third act concession to conventionality (and vigilantism) leads it in the direction of Cannon Pictures.
February 18, 2017
Dheepan should be a work of social-realism that helps us understand their plight, but only in the small moments does it feel the sum of its humanist intentions.
