Dheepan

"When the war continues to rage in your heart and mind"

2015 1h 55m FR

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 538

CrimeDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Three war-torn strangers posing as a family flee Sri Lanka’s civil war to start over in a troubled Paris suburb, but their past traumas resurface as they struggle to survive in their new environment.

“When the war continues to rage in your heart and mind”

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Cast

Antonythasan Jesuthasan
Dheepan
Kalieaswari Srinivasan
Yalini
Claudine Vinasithamby
Illayaal
Vincent Rottiers
Brahim
Marc Zinga
Youssouf
Faouzi Bensaïdi
Monsieur Habib
Bass Dhem
Azziz
Franck Falise
Hall C Guard

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jacques Audiard
Writers: Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Noé Debré
Languages: Arabic, English, French, Tamil
Countries: France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 11 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Arabic, English, French, Tamil.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jacques Audiard, shot by Éponine Momenceau. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Nicolas Jaar. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Juliette Welfling shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Antonythasan Jesuthasan and Kalieaswari Srinivasan and Claudine Vinasithamby carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "When the war continues to rage in your heart and mind".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt4082068 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jacques Audiard directs. Éponine Momenceau behind the camera. Nicolas Jaar scores. Juliette Welfling cuts. Produced in France. Dialogue in Arabic, English, French, Tamil.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 11 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Arabic, English, French, Tamil.
3Directed by Jacques Audiard, shot by Éponine Momenceau. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Nicolas Jaar. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Juliette Welfling shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Antonythasan Jesuthasan and Kalieaswari Srinivasan and Claudine Vinasithamby carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "When the war continues to rage in your heart and mind".
8IMDB entry: tt4082068 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Éponine Momenceau
Original score: Nicolas Jaar
Editing: Juliette Welfling
Production design: Michel Barthélémy
Costume design: Chattoune
Makeup / hair: Flore Masson
VFX supervisor: Cédric Fayolle
Sound: Cyril Holtz
Runtime: 115 min · 1h 55m
Status: Released
Box office: $7,704,357
Original language: FR
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Dheepan (2015)

Awards

Palme d'Or

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Jacques Audiard

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Reno2016-12-04
★ 8/10
Far from the home, but the trouble's not over. The renowned French filmmaker, Jacques Audiard back with this new sensational film. This time he has chosen to tell us the story of a Sri Lankan Tamil Eelam freedom fighter who had fled to France after the war, followed by his struggles in the new place. The entire film was in Tamil language, but there some French dialogues too. I have been waiting for this, even after I got many opportunities, I had postponed them for some reasons. Finally, I'm very happy for not just got over it, but for the film that has powerful contents to give a peek into the immigrant's lifestyle, I mean not in a pleasant way. Right now it is a huge issue around the world to curb the immigration, especially the illegal ones. But some reasons are really heartbreaking, like in the film 'The Good Lie'. Usually the people like in this story are not welcomed, so they have to lay low and swallow all the troubles they bump into. Sometime the events reflect what happened back in the homeland. In a such way this tale takes place where a civil war fighter, Dheepan, from Lanka lands in France with his fake family of a wife and a daughter named Yalini and Ilayaal respectively. In order to forget the past, he tries his best to start over a new life. Since he did not come wealth, he had to adapt whatever life offered to survive and to protect his family. Knowing living on the edge of the fire, they were left alone, but how long, because the fire flame always catches the vulnerable objects around it. So what comes later is the finale with a twist and to follow the end credits. I have seen many films about what this film was focused on, but this was somewhat different, mainly because of people from the culture of less known geographical area. I can understand Tamil, but I found hard to get this Sri Lankan Tamil lines. There were films about Sri Lankan refugees, those films like 'Nandha', 'Kannathil Muthamittal' are different kinds. Maybe this is the first western film to dig on Lankan Eelam topic, especially after the end of civil war and far away from the home. Though it does not take a side, except opening scene, the rest of the film is set in France. "Sometimes, they say things and laugh. I understand all the word, but they don't sound funny" They have got a simple storyline, but developed to its best. The progression becomes stronger, particularly when it reaches the final stage. I think the filmmakers did a good research, especially the cultural differences to highlight. That's the most of the film concentrated to only on the one perspective, but the threats what people like them face was also brought into the narration. Like caught between the two worlds and culture, and to defend themselves, to do what has to be done. Very realistic approach, but the question is do the things like this happen in real, especially in France? If you like Jacques Audiard films, then you should not miss it at all. These main actors are kind of new in front of the camera and they were amazing. Technically as well the film sounds good, but as I had heard, the filmmakers were hurried to finish it off when the Cannes Film Festival was around the corner. I think they have managed everything properly, and you would too appreciate the effort once you watch it. It went to numerous film festivals and won some awards that includes Palme d'Or at Cannes. Kind of must see by the director's fans, even if you are not a fan, it is still worth a watch. Because you won't get another this or seen before. Even if you did, the cast wasn't the familiar one. That's the big difference here. The film has a message like, what one must be doing in his second chance of life. There are violences, feels strong, though the effects are raw, not the events or the scenes. Definitely not a masterpiece, but still I would recommend it for the adults. 8/10
CinemaSerf2024-04-06
★ 7/10
More like out of the "Dheepan" and into the fire! He (Jesuthasan Anthonythasan) is a Tamil separatist on Sri Lanka who is having to come to terms with the fact that their cause is lost. Fearing persecution, he decides to head to France where he can claim asylum. Along the way, he encounters "Yalini" (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) and her daughter "Illayaal" (Claudine Visasithamby) and concluding that all would do better if they claimed to be a family, try to seek safety. Oddly enough, their lack of French language skills and papers doesn't seem to inhibit their arrival in France, but the reward for their efforts is his care-taking work in a block of flats in a lawless Parisian suburb where there seems little evidence of police to patrol the streets run by heavily armed gangs of youths. His job as the janitor seems to give him and his family a degree of immunity from what can only be describes as cross-border violence, and his experiences at home ensure he is no shrinking violet, but watching the hostilities increase and become more and more violent, you just know that their precarious situation must be heading for a crescendo. The efforts from both leading actors here is commendable. Their character's struggles to survive, to get the girl to safety and their own aspirations for a decent life are very well presented by convincing performances. It also gives us a rather grisly look at life in some of the French communities that have long since been abandoned by the state. The subtitles sparingly interpret auteur Jacques Audiard's shared screenplay but what they miss in translation is evident as we watch the scenario of brutality, blood and bullets unfold in front of us. Might they have been safer staying at home? Scary stuff, this - and very realistic.