Jacques Audiard has been on an incredible run since 2005’s "The Beat That My Heart Skipped," releasing the powerful "A Prophet" in 2009, and following it with "Rust And Bone" in 2012. Last spring, he returned with "Dheepan," the Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival, and after a lengthy journey on the festival circuit, it’s finally coming to stateside cinemas.
READ MORE: Cannes Review: Jacques Audiard’s ‘Dheepan’ Is An Excellent, Searing & Compassionate Drama
Starring Jesuthasan Antonythasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Claudine Vinasithamby, Vincent Rottiers, and Marc Zinga, the story follows three refugees from Sri Lanka — a man, woman, and child — who pose as a family to gain entry to France and start a new life. However, they soon discover that life in their new home has its own unique set of threats, setting off series of events that only grow in intensity. Here’s the official synopsis:
Dheepan is a Tamil freedom fighter, a Tiger. In Sri Lanka, the Civil War is reaching its end, and defeat is near. Dheepan decides to flee, taking with him two strangers — a woman and a little girl — hoping that they will make it easier for him to claim asylum in Europe. Arriving in Paris, the ‘family’ moves from one temporary home to another until Dheepan finds work as the caretaker of a run-down housing block in the suburbs. He works to build a new life and a real home for his ‘wife’ and his ‘daughter’, but the daily violence he confronts quickly reopens his war wounds, and Dheepan is forced to reconnect with his warrior’s instincts to protect the people he hopes will become his true family.
"Dheepan" opens on April 8th in the U.K. and May 6th in the U.S. Watch below. [i-d]