Une vie meilleure

A better life beckons the young couple Yann and Nadine. In an impulse, the thirty-somethings have bought some real estate by a lake where they want to start a restaurant. He’s a chef, she’s a waitress; a dream comes true. But they did not keep their eyes open when they took out their loans and French catering regulations do not prove very cooperative. The project gets delayed, as a result of which Yann and Nadine sink deeper and deeper into money problems. As an extreme stopgap measure, Nadine takes a lucrative job in Canada. Yann stays behind in his mobile home and looks after Nadine’s nine-year-old son Slimane. When Nadine suddenly doesn’t get in touch anymore, Yann is on his own.
Kahn, who had primarily made thrillers in the past, now presents the despair and nerve-wracking situation of the protagonists cleverly and briskly, while skilfully avoiding the pitfalls of sentiment. The powerful acting achievements, especially of Guillaume Canet as Yann, turn A Better Life into a beautiful and realistic drama.