bras ouverts (2017)

Directed by: Philippe de Chauveron | 92 minutes | comedy | Actors: Christian Clavier, Ary Abittan, Elsa Zylberstein, Cyril Lecomte, Nanou Garcia, Oscar Berthe, Mirela Nicolau, Sofiia Manousha, Ioana Visalon, Marian Samu, Anaïs Dopinescu, Nikita Dragomir, Raisa Mihai, Inan Cicek, Armen Georgian, Marc Arnaud

With ‘À bras ouverts’, director Philippe de Chauveron misses the point. The film is an accumulation of bad jokes and stereotypes; possibly all meant to be satirical, but pretty tacky anyway.

The left-wing intellectual Jean-Etienne Fougerole (played by Christian Clavier), a French media figure and married to a free artistic woman from a wealthy family, presents his latest book “À Bras Ouverts” in which he calls on all the wealthy to leave their poor (and home) open to anyone who is poor and in need of help.
When he is put on the block during a TV appearance asking if he would open his own house and says yes, a Roma family sees the interview and decides to take shelter with the Fougerole family. That same day, Babik (Ary Abittan) and his family arrive at Jean-Etienne’s doorstep at his immense villa.

The above could have been an interesting approach for a film that deals with the issues surrounding poverty, the refugee crisis or the roma discussion in France, but instead ‘À bras ouverts’ is a weak comedy that relies entirely on clichés and stereotypes. The roma family is loud, unkempt and has no regard for other people’s belongings. The ‘liberal’ French family does everything they can to uphold their reputation as benefactors, with Jean-Etienne’s book sales being the main motivation.

No lack of silly jokes; the pig of the roma destroys the neatly raked garden beds, grandma fishes the very expensive koi carp from the pond and after a feast organized by Babik, everyone is shitting themselves. The characters are nothing but caricatures and therefore more annoying than funny. Too bad, because the plot does give food for thought and could have opened an interesting conversation in today’s society.