Un petit frère

  • 116'
  • France
  • 2022

Rose, a fiercely independent single mother, has moved to Paris from the Ivory Coast with her two sons. When a relative tries to hook her up with an acquaintance, the young woman replies that she chooses her own men. Despite the heartbreaks, her dead-end job and her subpar living conditions, Rose is a reservoir of energy and attention for her boys, Jean and Ernest, whom she urges to achieve academic and behavioural excellence. Yet she disappears from their lives at regular intervals.

Léonor Serraille’s sophomore feature Un petit frère is an intimately recounted saga of this small family, spread over three decades. With deceptive simplicity, the film’s three chapters relay the narrative from one protagonist to another at different stages of their lives. The result is a composite picture of family life in which the values and choices of one character profoundly shape those of the others.

Over the course of the film, Rose, Jean and Ernest come to represent various facets of the immigrant experience in France. Serraille, however, refuses to reduce them to their identities, giving them an emotional and social life that creates room for mystery and complexity. We are given privileged information that the characters themselves don’t have, but the pieces of this puzzle may never fit.

 

Srikanth Srinivasan

  • 116'
  • France
  • 2022
Director
Léonor Serraille
Premiere
Dutch Premiere
Country of production
France
Year
2022
Festival Edition
IFFR 2023
Length
116'
Medium
DCP
International title
Mother and Son
Language
French
Producers
Sandra da Fonseca, Nathalie Mesuret, Bertrand Gore
Production Company
Blue Monday Productions
Sales
mk2 Films
Screenplay
Léonor Séraille
Cinematography
Hélène Louvart
Editor
Clémence Carré
Production Design
Marion Burger
Sound Design
Anne Dupouy
Cast
Annabelle Lengronne, Stéphane Bak, Kenzo Sambin, Ahmed Sylla, Sidy Fofana, Milan Doucansi
Local Distributor
Cherry Pickers
Director
Léonor Serraille
Premiere
Dutch Premiere
Country of production
France
Year
2022
Festival Edition
IFFR 2023
Length
116'
Medium
DCP
International title
Mother and Son
Language
French
Producers
Sandra da Fonseca, Nathalie Mesuret, Bertrand Gore
Production Company
Blue Monday Productions
Sales
mk2 Films
Screenplay
Léonor Séraille
Cinematography
Hélène Louvart
Editor
Clémence Carré
Production Design
Marion Burger
Sound Design
Anne Dupouy
Cast
Annabelle Lengronne, Stéphane Bak, Kenzo Sambin, Ahmed Sylla, Sidy Fofana, Milan Doucansi
Local Distributor
Cherry Pickers