Jacques Audiard is fondly called as ‘French Scorsese’ by art-house audiences around the world. Like Scorsese, he likes to observe the outsiders or outcasts of the society. Audiard’s protagonists hail from the lower rungs of society. A gangster in “The Beat that my Heart Skipped”, a young Arab prisoner with an intention to become a mafia kingpin in “A Prophet”, a bouncer in “Rust and Bone”, and ex-convict in “Read my Lips”. He most often takes a simple, generic plot and mixes his own brand of lyricism and violence that becomes strangely beguiling. Audiard’s earlier films like “See How they Fall”, “A Self Made Hero” and including “The Beat…” had charismatic, well-known French heroes, whose characters plunged deep into the underbelly of a social institution. But, with “A Prophet” and “Rust and Bone”, even the actors were outsiders (Tahar Rahim & Matthias Schoenaerts), whose day-to-day survival and emotional healing became a far more high-wire act. With Palme d’Or winning “Dheepan” (2015) Audiard selects an inexperienced, unknown actor as his protagonist to offer an empathetic portrait of a refugee, trying to adapt to an exhausting daily grind.
Probably the first question one might have after watching “Dheepan”
would be “Did it deserve to win a Palme d’Or?” Why Audiard’s most subdued and
leaner film was was bestowed with a prestigious award, when he more than
deserved it for “A Prophet”? (In that year Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” took
Palme d’Or). “Dheepan” certainly didn’t satisfy me as much as Audiard’s “Prophet”
or “The Beat…” There are some bewildering and overly conventional plot
elements, which doesn’t create as much impact as Audiard wanted it to be. But, if
we could forget the post-Cannes buzz and see “Dheepan” as a micro-level
extension of Audiard’s favorite themes (poverty, violence and redemption), we
could connect with the refreshing aspects of the film. First of all, it is bold
and even insane to make French film, set in France, where characters
predominantly speak in Tamil language. Audiard’s impeccable aesthetic details along
with agitated performances of the leads are the strongholds for the movie.
“Dheepan” opens on a parched landscape, littered with palm
trees, where Sivadhasan (Jesuthasan Anthonythasan), a LTTE warrior stands with an
empty look as the dead soldiers are cremated. He had already lost his wife and
children to the civil war and now seeks to flee from Sri Lanka. A woman named
Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivisan) wanders through refugee camp, searching for an
orphaned child. She finds a 9 year old girl Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby)
and with Sivadhasan, the trio becomes a faux family, hoping to find a better
life in Europe. The passports are of a demised Sri Lankan Tamil family and so
Sivadhasan becomes ‘Dheepan’—meaning ‘man who illuminates’. As the faux family
gets into the boat, Audiard superbly cuts to multi-colored lights, blinking in
the dark and gradually the shot comes into focus, and we see clearly that it is
a set of flashing bunny ears, which Dheepan is wearing on his head to sell it
on the pavements. Later, when he goes to his cramped-up apartment (where the woman
posing as his wife and the little girl lives) and tries to get a little sleep,
he dreams of an elephant in the jungle. If the name “Dheepan” indicates the irony
of what our protagonist has become, the ‘elephant’ may denotes his past
traumatic & violent memories (elephants are known for their power &
memory).
Soon, Dheepan finds himself in an urban jungle, where his
faux family finds lodgings in a disused section of public housing. He works as
a caretaker and on the horizon he sees trouble in the form of local gangs, who
all are peddling drugs. He is often shoved off and witnesses low-level abuses (we
hear him being called ‘Mowgli’). ‘Daughter’ Illayaal is enrolled into a public
school and ‘wife’ Yallini finds a job to take care of a paralyzed oldman, who
is the uncle of apartment block’s gang leader Brahim (Vincent Rottiers). Yallini
has selfish motive to leave for England, to live with her cousin, but the three
learn to function as a family and they begin to genuinely care for each others'
well-being. Dheepan tries to love and to integrate into a society with a set of
modest goals. But, in that gang-infested land, mayhem arrives as Brahim is
released on parole. Although, Brahim is not portrayed as a demon (he even talks
like a gentleman with Yallini), he has his businesses to take care of, which
indirectly makes Dheepan to reach his breaking point.
Sivadhasan aka Dheepan Natarajan has the typical
characteristics of an Audiard hero. But, in certain ways ‘Dheepan’ stands apart
from Malik in “A Prophet” or Thomas in “The Beat…” Both of those characters were
diffused with the easily identifiable Scorsese or Brian De Palma’ protagonist
elements. Their past trauma and present emotional quandaries remains apparent
through the dense script structure. However, Dheepan’s characterization offers
no such concession. All the violence, love and neglection, Dheepan has faced in
the past is expressed more subtly and demands viewers full attention. The way
he often scans the horizon, the manner with which he tries to settle in on the
job or tries to love or the way he clamorously calls for a ‘no fire zone’ (and
even the means by which cries after hearing the jubilant Illayaraja song) says
something about his past and longing for a present, which isn’t as mainstream
to understand as in Audiard’s other central movie figures. Anthonythasan who
plays ‘Dheepan’ offers a virtuoso performance as the man capable of extreme violence
and effervescent love. Anthonythasan, an ex-rebel turned expatriate (better
known by his pen name “Shobasakthi”), had played only one minor cinematic role
in “Sengadal” (which was banned by Indian censor board). The film also offers a
strongest female lead for an Audiard movie (with the exception of Marion
Cotillard in “Rust and Bone”, the directors’ films lacked women characters, who
hold their own space). Kalieswari Srinivasan as Yallini steals the spotlight
often, especially in the scenes she converses with French gangster. Her
performance is well improvised that at times, we feel her character transitions
are more graceful and grounded than that of Dheepan’s.
As in the ‘Bon Jovi’ song, Audiard’s script (written along
with Noe Debre and Thomas Bidegain) states that ‘the more the things change,
the more they stay the same’. When Dheepan fought for failed sociopolitical
reasons he lost everything he loved and now when he founds a new love, once
again things take a course, where fighting becomes inevitable. The emotional
arc of the character seems to be a mixture of Travis Bickle and Paul Kersey (“Death
Wish”), but Audiard keeps this subversive story element at the back and
projects the script as a love story with a darker core. When the plot traverses
as a love story or as immigrant drama, Audiard’s execution and minor
transitions remain brilliant. But, when he narrows the story to concentrate
solely on the vigilante aspect -- by the third act -- the tonal changes remain
a bit jarring. Illayaal’s emotional troubles are totally kept out of range in
the final act, as the feelings of a neglected child are reasonably addressed in
the beginning. The literally explosive, Travis Bickle style violent
confrontation in the end is executed with a admirable vigor, but it didn’t
provide a greater impact as the film’s early, subtle portions. And, the more
conventional epilogue feels a bit out-of-place, although Audiard might have
designed it to remain as uplifting.
“Dheepan” (115 minutes) is far from being Jacques Audiard’s
best work, but the film-makers’ splendid visual motifs and rich central
performances makes it a compelling drama. The film’s understated emotional
intensity may leave many viewers in the cold.
Trailer
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