Parky at the Pictures (DVD 5/10/2017)

Sara Forestier is a primary school teacher in Grenoble and she promises struggling student Tara Dechaud that no one has ever left her class without being able to read. Forestier lives in a flat above the school with 10 year-old son Albert Cousi, who claims that she never stops teaching, even when cooking. Student teacher Lucie Desclozeaux looks up to Forestier and notes the way she handles cheeky chatterers Lamine Mara and Timothée Fournier. However, their classmates are less than impressed when the ill-kempt Ghillas Bendjoudi is billeted on them and Forestier is disappointed with Cousi when he moves desks because the new boy smells.

With only two months to go before the class moves on to middle school, Forestier is determined that each child will succeed. But, as the lunch bell sounds, Cousi springs the news that father Antoine Gouy wants to take him to Java for a year. Moreover, while she is busy telling Desclozeaux about pay scales and the latest educational buzzwords, Bendjoudi gets into a fight in the canteen when the kids start to tease him and Forestier has to wrestle him to the ground to contain his fury after he pours water over the diminutive Mathieu Fizelier. Principal Patrick D'Assumçao tries to contact mother Laure Calamy, but she can't be reached and Bendjoudi has to sit and stew in the corridor outside D'Assumçao's office.

When Calamy fails to respond, D'Assumçao asks Forestier to keep an eye on Bendjoudi, who is playing with the principal's dog, Bangkok. He notices how Forestier fusses over Cousi before sending him off to a music lesson and asks if he likes barbecue crisps, as they are his favourite. He also reveals that Calamy spends long periods away from home and leaves her son money to buy food and Forestier is appalled that he has no clean clothes to wear. Thus, when Calamy's ex-boyfriend, Vincent Elbaz, comes to the school to complain that he has been bothered about Bendjoudi's behaviour, Forestier is in no mood to tolerate the courier's foul-mouthed arrogance. However, she recognises the boy's affection for Elbaz and he is allowed to take him home, even though D'Assumçao reports the case to social services.

Cousi is learning to play the French horn and he discordantly serenades Sombrero, the school rabbit in an empty classroom after hours. But he also gazes at the map of the world and fixes on Java, where his father builds huts for the poor and dispossessed. He regards him as a hero and says so during a lesson on Greek myths. But Forestier disregards his choice and plumps for Nelson Mandela as an example of a modern hero and the observing Desclozeaux smiles when she sees that Forestier has also managed to involve Hannah Brunt in the discussion, as she has learning difficulties and is supervised during lessons by classroom assistant, Guilaine Londez. Desclozeaux is also taken by the way that Forestier coaxes a sleepy-headed boy into concentrating by urging him to follow the example of David Copperfield and be the hero of his own life.

The class is rehearsing a play about the gods and Brunt is eager to participate. Forestier gives her a chance and similarly strives to find a way to help Dechaud overcome her reading difficulties by ordering an old textbook with a less complicated learning scheme. She also finds herself taking care of Bendjoudi after Elbaz fails to collect him at home time and janitor Frédéric Boismoreau needs to go to a kung-fu class. He locks himself in the bathroom and sniffs some of the clothing in the laundry basket and deliberately knocks over some of the toys in Cousi's room. However, he enjoys giving Sombrero a carrot and stands up for himself when Cousi returns from his music lesson and kicks him for being in his home. Elbaz eventually arrives and warns Forestier that Calamy is unstable and that he no longer has the time to care for Bendjoudi.

Left alone, Cousti complains to Forestier that she never has time for him and he asks to make a pupil appointment. She refuses to consider letting him live in Indonesia rather than stepping up to middle school and he declares that he will not allow her to ruin his dream. The next day, Desclozeaux's ambitions receive a setback when she becomes intimidated during a maths lesson and confides in Forestier that she has realised she is not cut out to become a teacher. Forestier tries to reassure her, but she is distracted by the fact that Bendjoudi came to her classroom during a lesson just to say hello and she wonders whether he is forming an unhealthy attachment to her.

The day keeps getting worse, however, as a dress rehearsal for the play descends into chaos and Forestier then learns that she is about to be inspected by the draconian Hervé Caullery. When she finally gets home, she finds Cousi and classmate Jules Gaborlau playing a violent video game and is then embarrassed when Elbaz forces Bendjoudi to return a stolen item of clothing. The boys fight over the video game and Forestier sends them off to play when she tips a bowl of crepe batter over Elbaz's jeans and she becomes so flustered in trying to make amends that she winds up kissing him. Meanwhile, Cousi and Bendjoudi have gone charging through the empty school shouting about their awful mothers and complete their act of rebellion by covering Sombrero in dye and glitter.

First-year teacher Denis Sabbah gets annoyed when the rabbit escapes because he needs it for a project, while Bendjoudi's form teacher, Olivia Côte, gets cross with Forestier when she coerces her into phoning Calamy. She also gets it in the neck from Brunt's snooty bourgeois mother, Anne Bouvier, who accuses her of casting her daughter as Hephaestus because she is handicapped. Forestier protests that Brunt had asked to play the role and Londez had helped her prepare, but Bouvier dismisses the suggestion that Brunt has forged a bond with Londez during their four years together and makes it plain that she disapproves of Forestier and her methods. When no one in the staffroom takes her concern over Brunt and Bendjoudi seriously, Forestier loses her temper and accuses one colleague of only being in teaching for the holidays. She also berates Côte for neglecting her pastoral role and insults Londez, who feels left out after not being invited to the meeting to settle Brunt's future.

Having phoned Calamy, Forestier decides to take matters into her own hands and goes to the clothes shop where she works. She pleads with her to take responsibility for Bendjoudi or face losing him. But the brittle Calamy merely hands over some money to give to her son, along with his security blanket, and she asks Forestier to leave her alone because her boss is watching them. When Forestier stands her ground, Calamy mocks her for being an over-protective mother and declares that Bendjoudi will be better equipped for dealing with life's hard knocks than her pampered son.

Elbaz takes Forestier and the boys to the Chinese restaurant run by Gaboriau's. But they argue over Bendjoudi's well-being, with Elbaz suggesting that he would be better off with a foster family, as Calamy will always let him down and he has his own life to lead. When Forestier storms out, Elbaz tries to kiss her and badmouths her when she scurries back to the school. Left alone with Bendjoudi, however, he becomes emotional when trying to reassure the boy that things will work out.

Yet, when Bendjoudi and Cousi appear before Sebbah's class to apologise for losing Sombrero, the former refuses to apologise and gets into a fight with Cousi that results in him slamming his head into a door frame. Cousi's cut isn't serious, but it prompts him to pack his belongings and attempt to leave home, just as Bendjoudi is attempting to cling to Forestier to prevent him from being taken away by the police because Calamy has vanished again. Gouy comes to collect Cousi and sneers at Forestier that he expects to win out when their case goes before a mediator. As he carries his son away on his shoulders, he promises to let him watch the Ninja Turtles movie and makes a salacious remark about its star, Megan Fox.

After a fainting in her classroom and enduring a sleepless night, Forestier arrives for her observation lesson with Caullery. She begins by explaining that Bendjoudi will not be returning, but she hopes that he will find his place in society because everyone deserves a chance. As a puzzled Caullery looks on, Forestier recalls how school used to be her sanctuary because her home life was complicated and she gets the class to work out how many dictations she has given in her eight-year career to date. With Londez and Desclozeaux watching her with slight concern, Forestier then claims that she is as much a pupil as her charges, as there is always something new to learn. However, Caullery intervenes and suggests that Forestier takes a break and she surprises D'Assumçao by waltzing out of the school.

She walks in the mountains and returns home at dusk to find Sombrero skulking in a flowerbed. D'Assumçao catches her on the stairs to ask if she is okay and she informs him that she has lost faith in teaching and wants to quit and refuses to change her mind, even though he shows her positive feedback from Dechaud's parents and she feels reassured by D'Assumçao's conviction in his vocation. Forestier also realises that she has to loosen up a bit and she agrees to let Cousi spend a year with Gouy.

But, after checking with Elbaz that Bendjoudi is coping at his hostel, she sticks to her plan to resign and is on her way to post her letter during the Olympus show when she finds Dechaud in her anvil costume in the hallway reading aloud from the notices on the wall. She is so moved by the beam of joy on the girl's face that she slips in to the back of the hall to watch Brunt appear as Man on the stage and Cousi is so touched by her performance, as she looks up at the artificial snow falling on her head, that he realises the remarkable job his mother has done in bringing her out of her shell when most would have given up on her.

An epilogue sees Forestier arrive for the start of the new term on the back of Elbaz's sushi delivery moped. Across the city, Brunt is about to start her new middle school, but she wanders into the kitchen of the restaurant she is visiting with her parents to find Londrez preparing vegetables. Normally, Brunt has a poor memory for people, but she remembers Londrez, even though she is wearing a hairnet, and calls her the first friend she ever had. Back at the school, Forestier welcomes her new pupils and she reassures a nervous girl that she is scared, too.

Jam packed with caricatures and contrivances, this is an easy film to watch, but a difficult one to take seriously. It's bad enough that the staff are depicted like adultlescents, but the ease with which fourth-time director Angel and co-scenarist Yann Coridian solve the problems facing Forestier and her students is positively soap operatic, as is the way in which Forestier drifts into an affair with Elbaz without knowing the first thing about him other than the fact he wants to enter Ironman competitions. The contrast between Forestier and Calamy is also facile, especially as the former is anything but a model mother and also plans to run away when the going gets too tough.

Despite the sloppiness of the scripting, however, Forestier makes a convincing teacher and interacts well with the juvenile ensemble. Her scenes with the bashful Dechaud, who is convinced she is stupid, are particularly well judged, unlike some of her showdowns with Cousi and Bendjoudi and her testy exchanges with Londez and Côte, whose indifference to the suffering of an abandoned student is as implausible as Calamy hanging on to the security blanket that Bendjoudi had slept with since he was an infant. The references to David Copperfield and the school play set on Mount Olympus also feel off-key. Yet, despite the failure to get small details like this right, Angel keeps Yves Angelo's twin cameras scurrying around the classrooms and corridors to capture the energy and enthusiasm of the kids that is also quaintly reflected in Philippe Miller's jaunty score. Moreover, she shows a respect for what teachers achieve in the classroom and have to put up with from the policy makers and bureaucrats who could do with spending more time at the chalk face rather than engaging in specious blue sky thinking.

While interlopers have produced such modest entertainments as Ridley Scott's A Good Year (2006), Randall Miller's Bottle Shock (2008) and Niki Caro's A Heavenly Vintage (2009), the French have been more reluctant to make films about wine. However, Eric Rohmer's An Autumn Tale (1998), Gilles Legrand's You Will Be My Son (2011), Jérôme Le Maire's Premiers crus (2015) and Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern's Saint Amour (2016) is now joined by Cédric Klapisch's Back to Burgundy, which continues to showcase the flair for character and milieu that made the globalisation trilogy comprised of Pot Luck (2002), Russian Dolls (2005) and Chinese Puzzle (2013) so engaging and authentic. It could be argued that this prodigal son saga could be set against the backdrop of any traditional craft. But, with vigneron Jean-Marc Roulot advising Klapisch while also taking a key role, this has enough dirt under its fingernails to keep oenophiles if not cinéphiles happy.

Over a sequence depicting a Burgundian vineyard through the seasons, Pio Marmaï explains in voiceover how he used to think the view from his bedroom window changed every day. But, as he grew older, he came to feel stifled by father Éric Caravaca's ambition for him to take over the family domain. So, one day, he hopped on a bus with plans to see the world and he has only returned a decade later because sister Ana Girardot has called to inform him that Caravaca is in hospital. She is delighted to see him and hear about his travels in Australia. But younger brother François Civil is angry that they have heard nothing from Marmaï since their mother died five years ago and he is in the middle of a kitchen rant when vineyard foreman Jean-Marc Roulot interrupts to ask them to help move a destemming machine in the fermentation shed.

The harvest is due and Civil apologises for being on edge because he works for father-in-law Jean-Marie Winling, who has a bigger business and is concerned that Civil lacks what it takes to be his heir. However, he also has duties at the family holding and ventures into the sun-kissed fields with Marmaï and Girardot, as they debate the best day to start picking the grapes. She favours delaying, as their father would do. But Marmaï suggests an earlier date to achieve a wine with greater acidity and Roulot concurs that it might be an intriguing idea. Marmaï is reluctant to impose, as Caravaca has put Girardot in charge. But she bows to his opinion and notes how stressed he seems after a phone call with his girlfriend, María Valverde.

Civil is also having a tough time, as Winling keeps organising blind tastings to improve his olfactory memory and wife Yamée Couture and mother-in-law Florence Pernel try to defend him as he makes silly slips. He thinks back to the childhood sessions with mother Sarah Grappin looking on indulgently as Caravaca passes on the tricks of the trade to his offspring (played as kids by Hugo Soyer, Alice de Germay and Alan Morgoev). Marmaï has a similar dream, as he dozes in his old room and wakes to the news that their father has died. As they walk away from the cemetery, Marmaï reveals that he didn't come home for their mother's funeral because Valverde gave birth to their son on the same day. Returning home, they sample wines made by their father and grandfather and Civil is astonished by the sensitivity of his sister's palate.

A few days later, lawyer Bruno Raffaelli and assistant Marina Tomé explain that Caravaca has made the siblings equal partners in the vineyard. They also disclose that they owe €500,000 in inheritance tax and that they would be better off selling the entire property for around €6 million than in trying to make a go of running the business with all decisions having to be unanimous. But the harvest takes priority and Girardot instructs the pickers how to work in each parcel of land. A montage follows to a jaunty tune, as Marmaï flirts with black worker Karidja Touré and Girardot berates Tewfik Jallab for starting a fruit fight. He accuses her of being a bourgeois prig and throws a banknote at her for exploiting him and lacking a sense of fun. She gets upset, but Marmaï urges her to remember she is a wine-maker rather than a boss.

Civil takes the grapes for testing at a nearby lab and all seems to be going well, even after Marmaï and Girardot have a spat with neighbour Eric Bougnon trying to steal their crop (and Jallab tuts that Girardot is mad when she starts hurling the purloined grapes at him). After Marmaï declares that he won't be hanging around, she has a further crisis of confidence while steering a tractor back to the house and she cries at a memory of Caravaca teaching her to drive. But she sticks to a decision on a 50:50 destemming ratio when questioned by Roulot and Marmaï supports her, as he wants her to feel comfortable in her new role.

Following a day's picking in the rain, the siblings host a candlelit party in the courtyard and Civil misses Winling's own function when he realises that Marmaï and Girardot need cheering up, as Valverde keeps giving his brother grief over the phone, while his sister feels she lacks the common touch. The wine flows and songs are sung, as Marmaï tells Touré about his peregrinations being more about cowardice than courage and Roulot breaks out some vintage bottles. At one point, Marmaï and Civil invent a conversation between Girardot and Jallab and are taken aback when they start kissing passionately. But they keep partying and Civil has to make a drunken apology to Couture when she comes to find him next morning.

While he heads home, Marmaï and Girardot tread the grapes in giant barrels. But Marmaï has made it clear that he plans to return to Australia and needs money to pay off the mortgage debt on his domain. However, Girardot and Civil refuse to sacrifice everything their parents worked for to bail him out of a jam and they discuss selling certain parcels without compromising the integrity of the estate. But, even when they put up the farmhouse for sale and estate agents troop endless prospective buyers through the rooms, they discover that no one is willing to buy without the land. Bougnon tries to make a bid for the adjoining properties, but Girardot wants nothing to do with him.

As the winter closes in and Marmaï delays his return south, he grows to miss his son, while the arguments on the phone with Valverde become more heated. Civil is also finding life with his in-laws a trial, as Winling has decided that he doesn't have the gifts to take over his vineyard and he offers him a chance to manage the spa at a mill conversion that Couture has designed. Winling also proposes buying a couple of parcels to help the siblings meet their tax bill. But, with Girardot showing great promise as a vigneron under Roulot's watchful eye, she is reluctant to break up the estate. Therefore, they press on with the sale of the house and begin going through their belongings. Civil finds Caravaca's old jacket and tries it on. He also finds a letter in the pocket and gives it to Marmaï, as he is complaining that their father never loved him and always blamed him for episodes like Civil falling out of a tree as a boy. Indeed, he went to the hospital to have it out with Caravaca, only to find that he could no longer speak and be began to weep when his father halted his recriminatory rant by squeezing his hand.

When Marmaï drops his phone, Girardot gets Valverde's number and calls her to let her know that her brother still loves her. But she insists that the situation is complicated. Winling is less understanding, however, when Civil turns down the job offer and his siblings refuse to sell him the premier cru plots he wants. Couture suggests her father starts treating them as adults and Pernel tuts at him when he stalks away from the lunch table. Yet, she is the one to drive Civil crazy when she keeps waking them early on Sundays for family breakfasts.

A few days later, as they are toiling in the vineyard, Valverde and son Sean O'Gara-Micol arrive out of the blue. Marmaï is overjoyed to see the boy and they fix a swing to the tree in the garden, while Valverde thanks Girardot for calling her. She says she needed time to think and see whether she could cope on her own. Sleeping either side of O'Gara-Micol, Marmaï and Valverde talk into the night and make lots of accusations and apologies before Girardot takes her nephew swimming and his parents tumble back into bed. Yet, even though it's clear that they desire each other, neither is sure if they work as a couple or where their future will take them.

Girardot is happy to see Marmaï and Valverde being affectionate towards each other. But he gets tipsy at a wine tasting hosted by Winling and states in no uncertain terms that he doesn't want to sell him any land. When Winling summons Civil to the cellar to ask what's going on, he also releases some pent-up emotions in wishing that Winling would stop trying to manipulate everyone into doing his bidding. Returning to the party, he feels good about himself and Couture forgives him for forgetting to mention that they want to move out of the annexe.

While walking in the vineyard, Marmaï tells Valverde that he no longer cares what happens to the domain. But, when he sees Bougnon using artificial pesticide, he berates him and Valverde wonders how ready Marmaï really is to letting go of his family ties. He enjoys seeing O'Gara-Micol playing with his toddler cousin and he jokes that he hopes they turn out to be better fathers than Caravaca and Winling. At bedtime, Marmaï has a flashback to Caravaca tucking him in and father and son exchange a meaningful glance in his imagination.

Valverde and O'Gara-Micol leave the next day, with Marmaï promising to come to Australia as soon as he can. But, as he stands by the window, his younger self asks why he is selling part of the land when it's his home. He tries to explain that he needs his share to move on, but the argument makes little sense. As he reveals in voiceover, he came home to see his father, but rediscovered his brother and sister and realised that his home is with Valverde and O'Gara-Mico. He suggests that he leases his parcels to Girardot and Civil and pay off the taxes with his stock in Australia, so that they can work as a partnership from opposite sides of the globe.

Having discovered she likes knowing her own mind and having her orders obeyed, Girardot agrees and Marmaï sees her welcoming the pickers for the new harvest (with a smiling Jellab being among them). He is also pleased that Civil and Couture have spread their wings. But, as he looks back at the domain as he walks along the dusty winding road, one is left to wonder whether he will ever see his home again.

Once again allying with a youthful ensemble to generate a palpable sense of community, Klapisch tells his tale with conviction and cogency. There's a lot of plot to work through and, considering that much of the action takes place within the same few miles, it does occasionally feel like an extended episode of Les Archers with a pronounced echo of You Will Be My Son reverberating in the background. But Klapisch (who has strayed out of his usual urban milieu) and co-scenarist Santiago Amigorena create some credible, if not always compelling characters for Marmaï, Girardot and Civil, while Couture and Valverde provide some deft support. Adroitly mixing wit and pathos, the writers also do well not to burden Girardot with a romantic subplot to distract from her struggle to be taken seriously as a woman in a man's world. That said, she is the most sketchily drawn of the siblings, while Marmaï not only gets a voiceover, but also gets to interact (somewhat contrivedly) with his younger self.

As one might expect, given the scenery, Alexis Kavyrchine's photography evocatively captures the changing look and feel of the landscape, while production designer Marie Cheminal cannily contrasts the cosily ramshackle farmhouse, Winling's chateau and Civil and Couture's cramped annexe to reaffirm why the siblings would be so reluctant to part with the domain. Loïc Dury and Christophe Minck also contribute a lively pop score inflected with traditional accordion motifs that suggests the flourishing of the younger generation within a culture firmly rooted in its rituals. Yet, despite the quality of the ingredients, this never quite fulfils its sparkling promise and leaves a rather sugary aftertaste.

Having made such an auspicious start to his directorial career with Human Resources (1999) and Time Out (2001), few were surprised when Laurent Cantet won the Palme d'or at Cannes for The Class (2008). However, having made a misstep with his English-language debut, Foxfire (2012), Cantet has stumbled again with the Homerically titled Return to Ithaca (2014), which sees him return to the Caribbean after setting Heading South (2005) on Haiti and contributing the `La Fuente' episode to the 2012 portmanteau picture, 7 Days in Havana. Indeed, it was while filming his vignette that Cantet made the acquaintance of Cuban writer Leonardo Padura and considered making a 15-minute short from a plot strand in his novel, The Palm Tree and the Star. Ultimately, however, he opted to expand the storyline to feature length, although many viewing this slow-burning and talkily Spanish drama that primarily takes place during a dinner party on a Havana roof terrace might think that it is better suited to the stage.

Singing a song from their heyday, middle-aged friends Fernando Hechavarría, Néstor Jiménez, Isabel Santos and Pedro Julio Díaz Ferrán (the sole black member of the cabal) meet up on a rooftop overlooking the sea to reminisce about past parties, midnight dope searches and embarrassing boyfriends. They recall attending a Joan Manuel Serrat concert, but insist they would much rather have listened to deviant capitalist music instead. Hechavarría and Jiménez get into an argument over the merits of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, while Santos teases them about the fact that they are both obsessed with their absent buddy, Jorge Perugorria, who was the rebellious leader of the group with his long hair and tight trousers.

Ferran produces some photographs of the time they spent doing compulsory labour on a sugar plantation and Santos alludes to the fact that Jiménez was always so negative about what Fidel Castro was trying to do for his people and it is implied that he went into a lengthy Spanish exile from which he has only relatively recently returned. They sigh about how young they looked and feel a pang when Perugorria arrives having lost his hair. He teases each in turn, but Santos looks the least pleased to see him and is relieved that a phone call from his boss distracts him from ribbing her about getting religion. However, she channels her annoyance into criticising Jiménez for making no effort to come and see his wife while she was dying.

Jiménez protests that he had it tough when he first arrived in Spain and only avoided freezing after some nuns gave him a coat. He was also helped by a Cuban decorator, who found him work while cheating him out of his wages. But, eventually, he got his papers and became a well-travelled teacher. However, he has lost the creative spark that once made him a writer and he admits to being lonely and bored so far away from home. As an artist who no longer paints, Hechavarría sympathises with Jiménez losing his source of inspiration. But, as a doctor, Santos is less interested in the abandoned novels and his regret at leaving his real life behind for a pale imitation in a country that could never be home, as she is only concerned with the fact he stayed away while cancer killed his wife. He tries to protest that he left to send her the money to buy food and medication, but Santos feels nothing but disgust for what she considers treachery.

The roar of the crowd from a nearby baseball game can't drown the sound of a pig being slaughtered on a rooftop across the barrio, so Santos volunteers to fetch some more ice. Jiménez protests at the way she nags him about his wife when he risked being detained if he returned to see her. He boasts about dating a Catalan woman, but complains that Spanish women are interested in marriage rather than fun. Hechavarría and Perugorria change the subject by recalling the illicit books they had read as students and Santos returns as the latter is reciting Mario Vargas Llosa's `From the Doorway of La Crónica'. She applauds and he rewards her by playing “California Dreamin'” by The Mamas and the Papas and they dance together. But she suddenly breaks away to reveal that Jiménez plans to stay in Cuba and resist any attempts to deport him.

When the others accuse him of being insane for coming back, he insists that he misses his homeland and that nobody can deny him the right to live in the land of his birth. He claims he needs to write again, but Hechavarría warns him that Cuba has changed in 16 years and that he will struggle to find an audience even if someone is willing to publish. When Perugorria tries to defend him, Santos steps in to accuse him of abandoning his journalistic idealism to take a well-paid functionary job that lacks the dignity of Ferrán's work in a battery factory. She suggests he is corrupt with a foreign bank account to provide for his daughters if he ever needs to flee and he is so angry that he accuses them all of having wasted their lives and grown bitter while he has grasped opportunity whenever he could.

He storms downstairs and Farrán's mother, Carmen Solar, comes up to urge them not to throw away 40 years of friendship on petty differences. She cooks them her special beans and everyone is glad that Ferrán still has her to look after him after his wife deserted him for a wealthy Italian. As they chat, Perugorria returns and Ferrán's 20 year-old son, Rone Luis Reinoso, arrives with his girlfriend, Andrea Doimeadios. Jiménez remembers taking him on a beach holiday after he won a literary prize when Reinoso was a toddler and they joke about how tall he has grown. He is pleased with the t-shirt that Jiménez gives him, but Perugorria warns his friend that he will sell it as soon as he leaves. When Jiménez asks Reinoso what he is studying, Ferrán tuts and reveals that his son is a wastrel who takes handouts from his mother.

Back on the roof, Hechavarría, Santos and Perugorria tells Jiménez about Reinoso getting in with a bad crowd and Ferrán concedes he is disappointed with his son when he joins them. He wants to leave Cuba and is prepared to take a raft to get away, as he knows he will have trouble getting a visa, even if Perugorria pulls some strings on his behalf. Having fought in the civil war in Angola because he believed in the cause, Ferrán despairs of the younger generation and their disregard for the achievements of the Special Period. But Perugorria urges him to accept that the great experiment has failed and that the country that has been crumbling around them since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

As if to emphasise the fact, the power goes off. But Perugorria uses the torch on his phone to dazzle them until the lights return. Hechavarría is explaining why he stopped painting when Ferrán brings a large canvas on to the roof. It was painted in 1998, but the authorities refused to give Hechavarría to exhibit in Paris and he found himself having to sacrifice his style to earn a crust painting colourful commercial daubs. He reveals that he started to drink and that his wife left him and that he feels like he prostitutes his talent.

Jiménez is left alone with Santos and they discuss his wife again. He reassures Santos that she didn't want him to come back and Santos admits that part of the reason why she is so angry with him is that her sons have gone to Florida and forgotten her. They are joined by Hechavarría, who thinks he should take Santos home. But Jiménez wants to confess that he stayed in Spain for so long because he was being blackmailed by a woman from the Ministry of Culture, who threatened to prosecute him for an illegal play unless he informed on Hechavarría, who had become a famous artist, but a loudmouth. So, when a chance came to tour Spain, Jiménez promised that he would betray Hechavarría on his return and that is why he stayed away and let down his wife in her hour of need.

Hechavarría is furious that the government could ruin lives so blithely, but Ferrán is more angry that the Castro regime asked people to believe and then oppressed and persecuted them for showing faith. He resents the fear and Jiménez reveals that he stopped being afraid when he bumped into the woman who had tormented him on the Madrid subway. She denied knowing him and he felt nothing but contempt because she had threatened to ruin him and had forgotten all about it while living her own easy life in exile. At that moment, he realised he was free to return and that nothing was going to stop him.

As dawn breaks, Ferrán dozes on the roof, while Perugorria sits alone at the table and Hechavarría gazes into space. Jiménez wanders up and down with his hands in his pockets before standing behind Santos at the balcony rail as she looks out to sea. They had been friends for so long, but had not really known each other at all. But, at least, the future is in their own hands. Exploiting confined spaces and dripping information about strained relationships with measured precision, this lament for Cuba's wasted years contains echoes of Athina Rachel Tsangari's Chevalier (2015) and Xavier Dolan's It's Only the End of the World (2016). But only those entirely au fait with the Castro enterprise will fully appreciate the nuances of a screenplay that is stuffed with throwaway references to specific policies and events that caused those who had supported the 1959 uprising to lose faith in their leaders and their ideology.

All five principals breathe life into their characters and it is only as the run rises that one can fully appreciate how skilful their performances have been, as they have been interiorising so much information that colours their utterances and reactions to anecdotes and revelations shrouded in secrecy and regret. Néstor Jiménez carries the heaviest burden, as he passes from beloved prodigal to cowardly pariah and misunderstood anti-hero over the course of the evening, while impoverished ophthalmologist Isabel Santos remains embittered and judgemental for the worthiest, but most misguided of reasons. But Fernando Hechevarria's self-obsessed recovering alcoholic and Jorge Perugorria's flamboyant wheeler dealer feel broader creations, while too little is said about why these sceptical Hispanic intellectuals would have been so close to such an unswerving (and black) child of the Revolution as Pedro Julio Díaz Ferrán, who fought other peoples battles, lost his wife to a foreigner and each day has his fingers scorched by acid at the battery factory after being denied the right to work as an engineer.

Cantet keeps Diego Dussuel's camera close to his players, while editor Robin Campillo (who has previously been Cantet's writing partner) times his cuts to close-up with psychological precision. But the happenings at the floodlight stadium and in the neighbouring flats fail to generate the desired ambient authenticity. Consequently, while this Cuban Big Chill fitfully intrigues, it rarely involves as either a human drama or a cinematic critique.

As films take time to write, finance, shoot and edit, cinema has always been a few steps behind world affairs. When it comes to covering crises, documentarists have a head start and audiences accustomed to dismaying images on 24-hour rolling news bulletins have still been shocked by such studies of the Syrian civil war as Talal Derki's The Return to Homs (2013), Ossama Mohammed and Wiam Simav Bedirxan's Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait (2014), Orlando von Einsiedel's Oscar-winning The White Helmets (2016). Matthew Heineman's City of Ghosts, Sebastian Junger's Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS, and Feras Fayyad's Last Men in Aleppo (all 2017). Fictional film-makers are catching up, however, and Belgian cinematographer-turned-director Philippe Van Leeuw makes a poignant, if occasionally melodramatic contribution to our understanding of the conflict with Insyriated.

With her husband away, Oum Yazan (Hiam Abbass) is sheltering daughters Yara (Alissar Kaghadou) and Aliya (Ninar Halabi), son Yazan (Mohammad Jihad Sleik), father-in-law Mustafa (Mohsen Abbas) and Yara's boyfriend, Kareem (Elias Khatter), in her first-floor Damascus apartment. Indian maid Delhani (Juliette Navis) is also helping care for bombed-out neighbours Samir (Moustapha Al Kar) and Halima (Diamand Abou Abboud), who is nursing her first child. As the white-bearded Mustafa watches a scuffle on the street before slumping on the sofa in despair, the camera roves around a spacious room lined with books. Delhani has to wash in a bowl as the water is off, but she helps Samir with the wooden bars across the door, as he slips out to meet with the foreign journalist who can smuggle his family into Lebanon.

Sipping coffee, Delhani looks out of the window as Samir scuttles across the courtyard and is horrified when she sees him felled by a sniper. She rushes to wake Oum Yazan, who tells her that there is nothing they can do for him and orders her to say nothing to Halima. As everyone gets up and queues for the bathroom, Delhani tries not to look at herself in the mirror while doing her chores and curses Oum Yazan for always needing to be in control when she sends her downstairs to fetch water in a bucket.

The sound of shelling drives Yara and Aliya in from the balcony, as Halima sneaks upstairs to find some powdered milk in the rubble of her flat. She tells Oum Yazan about the plan to leave and thanks her for protecting them, while admitting that she had initially been intimidated by her. Unsmilingly, Oum Yazan puts a hand on her shoulder and commends her neighbour's courage before returning to the kitchen to make breakfast. Yazan shares a bite with his grandfather before bursting in on Yara and Kareem, who are canoodling on her bed.

But there is no room for cosy domesticity as a rocket explodes outside and Oum Yazan ushers her charges into the kitchen. Halima is upset because she has been burgled, but Oum Yazan is more concerned that Aliya has wasted water by washing her hair. They try to sing to keep up their spirits, but Dalhani is unable to control her emotions and she rushes out with a hand over her mouth. As silence descends, the baby starts crying and Halima takes him to her room. Delhani asks Oum Yazan when she can leave, as she has a son back home to think about and doesn't want to die in a war zone. When, Oum Yazan urges her to remember her place, she confides in Mustafa, who also tells her to keep her secret before lighting a cigarette and trying to remain calm while sitting in a chair facing his beloved books.

He lets Oum Yazan know with a look that he has heard about Samir and she is angry with Delhani for blabbing. However, a near miss sends everyone scrambling for cover and Oum Yazan is trying to reassure her children when she hears a knocking at the door. Through the spyhole, she sees three men asking if she is okay. She sends them away, but is nervous that they are up to no good.

Kareem manages to pick up a radio broadcast on a laptop and Oum Yazan is furious that her district is under siege when she has worked so hard to make a nice home for her children. She browbeats Kareem for having risked his neck to visit Yara and he slopes away to seek solace with Halima, who is fretting about her son because he has become so inured to war that didn't cry when the blast erupted. He notices her suitcase and asks if she is leaving and she thanks him for looking out for her and sends him out with a tearful kiss on his lips.

Yara senses something has happened and storms away from the lunch table, as Oum Yazan and Delhani try not to catch each other's eyes as Halima calls Samir and gets no reply. They are distracted by another knock at the door and Oum Yazan tells the two men outside to leave them alone, as they are content to be the only people left in the building. When they insist they need to give the apartment a security check, she tells them to come back when her husband is home and they disappear.

However, they quickly return with the younger man (Orwa Kulthoum) breaking through the balcony window to open the door for his older, balding superior (Husam Chadat). On hearing the commotion, Oum Yazan bundles everyone into the kitchen. But Halima insists on getting her baby and is caught by the duo, as they search for valuables. Kareem wants to help Halima, but Oum Yazan hisses at him to keep quiet and they listen in horror, as the older man rapes Halima and slaps her when she struggles to protect her child from his cohort, who wants to sell it on the black market. They leave hurriedly and Mustafa ventures out to check the coast is clear. Oum Yazan puts a blanket around Halima's shoulder and brings over her crying infant. But Halima pulls away from her attempts to reassure her and she glares at Oum Yazan for sacrificing her for the safety of her own family.

As Oum Yazan sits in the dark, Delhani lights a candle and pleads with her to tell Halima about Samir. She nods and wanders into the dining-room, where she removes the tablecloth and lies on the polished wood to summon her courage. Rising, she leads Halima into the bathroom to wash, while Delhani changes the baby. When Halima has dressed, Oum Yazan takes her to one side and breaks the news and Halima has to be restrained by Kareem when she rushes to the window to see her husband's body and screams at the snipers to finish her off because she has nothing left to live for.

She is furious with Oum Yazan for not being honest with her and accuses her of being prepared to let her die to save her own skin. But, before Oum Yazan can protest, Halima rushes downstairs to recover Samir's body and Kareem and Yara accompany her. She cowers on the steps in the dusky darkness before running across the parking lot when Kareem returns with the news her husband is still alive. He carries Samir across his shoulder and lays him out on Oum Yazan's table. While she dresses his wounds, Aliya sobs on Halima's shoulder in begging for forgiveness for letting her confront the intruders alone. She strokes her hair and holds her close, as Kareem and Yara kiss in relief at having survived their ordeal in rescuing Samir.

Night falls and Oum Yazan checks on her sleeping brood. But they are woken by a rap at the door, as Ghassan (Axam Hamada) comes with two friends to take Samir to a doctor. He asks Oum Yazan if she has heard from her husband and they wonder if he has been held up by the roadblocks. Ghassan promises to take Halima to safety the next morning and he implores Oum Yazan to let her children leave the apartment before it's too late. She promises to think about it and barricades the door. As she turns, she clasps Halima's hands and orders Delhani to clean the table before sitting with her head on Mustafa's shoulder, as they worry about his missing son.

While Oum Yazan tries to sleep, she gets a phone call from her husband, who manages only to greet her before the line goes dead. But, at least, she knows he's safe and Mustafa resumes his station by the window, as the call to prayer and bird song fill the air in a rare moment of peace.

Having chosen Rwanda for his directorial debut, The Day God Walked Away (2008), Van Leeuw can't be accused of ducking the big issues and he makes a solid job of conveying how it must feel for ordinary people to be trapped inside Syria's murderous madness. Echoes of siege sagas like Saverio Costanzo's Private (2005) and Babak Anvari's Under the Shadow (2016) reverberate faintly beneath Paul Heymans and Alex Goosse's inspired sound effects and the twinkling piano and mournful strings of Jean-Luc Fafchamps's emotionally manipulative score. Indeed, there is a generic feel to the action, as Van Leeuw avoids specific references to the Syrian conflict and makes no mention of the political loyalties of Oum Yazan and her guests. All that matters is that several woman and girls, two young boys, an old man and a baby are in peril from both combatants and rogues in a lawless city where their well-being has ceased to matter. Yet, while this does nothing to diminish the intensity of the drama, it devalues its insights into this particular conflict. As always, Palestinian star Hiam Abbass impresses as the matriarch putting on a show of strength as much for herself as for her friends and family, while Juliette Navis elicits pity as the put-upon maid whose devotion to the children is rooted in a desperation to provide for her own son in India. But Lebanese actress Diamand Abou Abboud excels as the adoring wife and doting mother who endures humiliation with spirited courage in order to protect her baby and those depending upon her in the kitchen. Yet, while he raises some troubling moral quandaries, Van Leeuw undermines the realism of the situation by resorting to melodrama in order to question Abbass's tactics. Moreover, his dialogue lacks the finesse shown by cinematographer Virginie Surdej, as she lets the camera roam in long takes around Kathy Lebrun's confining and impeccably lit and decorated interiors to suggest the vulnerability of occupants who often feel more entombed than embattled.