Sophie is an elegant, urbane woman in her thirties. She is in a dead end relationship; her partner David has been unable or unwilling to leave home for years and stares constantly at his laptop screen. He almost always ignores Sophie's patient attempts to communicate. The couple lives in a decent flat in a suburb of Paris and Sophie tries to make ends meet working in a café-restaurant.
One day David leaves without explanation. Sophie crosses paths with a couple of Middle Eastern homeless illegal immigrants, Aicha and Murad. They have a baby and are taking care of a preteen girl not their own. The result of this encounter will alleviate Sophie's solitude for a while.
I was fascinated by every minute of this movie, not only by what is shown on screen but by what is implied, suggested and left for the viewer to imagine; sometimes an entire tale can be spun out of a few scenes. Who is the old lady (and why is she) pushing an empty pram? Has the immigrant couple contracted with a smuggler to enter France and is friend Ismail the smuggler's enforcer? What was the nature of Sophie's relation with her sister (whom we see only briefly)? Why does Sophie reject her father so radically? What is the nature of David's problem and why is there a profound sadness in his gaze?
The final effect is that of getting to know real people in the real world. There are a few indisputable facts, but the rest of the information is incomplete; there are just hints which we transform in a overall portrait with much guessing (and possibly incorrectly), in the way we join points with a curve whose shape we don't know. This is my first contact with Turkish director Mustafa Ozgun's work and my impression couldn't be better. Script by the director is precise and spare and acting is excellent all around with Eléonore Boccara carrying most of the weight. She does a brilliant job. Direction is fluid, supported by excellent cinematography (also by Ozgun) and music is used sparingly and very effectively. I hope more of the director's work becomes available in the streaming services.
