Nos Batailles (2018)

Directed by: Guillaume Senez | 98 minutes | drama | Actors: Romain Duris, Basile Grunberger, Lena Girard Voss, Lucie Debay, Laure Calamy, Dominique Valadié, Laetitia Dosch, Sarah Le Picard, Kris Cuppens, Cédric Vieira, Jeupeu, Valentine Cadic, Francine Lorin-Blazquez

‘Nos batailles’ is about Olivier Vallet, a man who is confronted with the abrupt departure of his wife, the mother of his children. Where his wife was previously always responsible for the upbringing and the day-to-day running of the household, he suddenly finds himself forced to combine the care of his two young children, Rose and Elliot, with his busy job as a team leader in a large distribution center. Sounds familiar? Yes, ‘Nos batailles’ is very similar to ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’, the 1979 film that won Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman their first Oscars.

Romain Duris convincingly plays a man who has no idea what his wife is up to. However, the viewer doesn’t quite understand it either. We see that she is at the doctor for her son and then something is raised that bothers her, but what that is is not really expressed. The scene at her work hardly provides any explanation. We see how much she cares about the fate of a customer whose payment by bank card is refused, or is it just the so-called drop? Then she collapses. She still manages to keep up appearances for her children, but apparently enough is enough and she can’t help but leave, without saying goodbye, without leaving a message.

The film then shows how Olivier – and to a lesser extent the children – deal with this radical change. The children are far from independent enough, so his mother is regularly called in to take care of them after school. However, this also creates tensions. When Olivier’s somewhat eccentric sister Betty comes to visit (nice role by Laetitia Dosch), the family seems to be temporarily in calmer waters, because the mother role is seamlessly taken over by Betty. But when the youngest, Rose, suddenly refuses to speak after her departure, it feels forced and unnatural.

Although it is clear what the filmmaker’s intention is: to shed light on the struggles that people have both professionally and in their private lives and how that makes everyone equal, this combination in ‘Nos batailles’ does not work out as well as it was intended. The scenes that take place in and around the Amazon-like company distract from the main line of the story and the emotional impact of this is therefore omitted. Well acted, yes, and entertaining at times, but because of the structure of the story, unlike with ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’, don’t shed a tear with this not very memorable film.