Gare du Nord

Claire Simon is an experienced French filmmaker who has made both documentaries and feature films. She must have realised that her subject, Gare du Nord as a metaphor for the rest of Europe, would be too big and multifaceted for a single film and a single approach, as she shot the feature film (this film) and the documentary Human Geography in the same building. Together the films constitute a single, dramatic essay about the plight or the luck of the immigrant. Gare du Nord follows the young Algerian scientist Ismaël who hopes to receive his PhD for his vision of the station as a multicultural breeding ground. He meets French history professor Mathilde there, and slowly something beautiful blossoms between them while we see the chaotic laboratory Gare du Nord through their eyes. A rich film full of realistic characters. About people who haven’t given up looking for something better.