Review of “Welcome”
If it’s relief from 3D action or children’s holiday fantasy that you need, then this French drama is welcome indeed. Nominated for nine Cesar Awards, (it was no sin at all to have been beaten in just about every category by the standout thriller A Prophet) Welcome is a humane and touching story of a young Kurdish immigrant’s attempts to reunite with his girlfriend.
Bilal (Firat Ayverdi) has fled Iraq on foot and is trying to make contact with Mina (Derya Ayverdi) who has just settled in England with her family. Living in dire circumstances in a French coastal town with views of the white cliffs of Dover, Bilal is captured trying to make an illegal Channel tunnel crossing in a truck with a group of other refugees. Warned that he must not try again, Bilal has nothing to look forward to in his daily routine of soup kitchens, sneering locals and the oppressive attitudes of French authorities towards new migrants from the Middle East. A young man of determination, Bilal heads to the nearest swimming pool and starts training with the aim of swimming the 34 kilometers across the chilly waters of the Channel in order to get to Mina before she is married off by her traditionally-minded father. At the pool Bilal befriends recently divorced and lonely swimming coach Simon (Vincent Lindon) and the two form an unlikely bond, Simon recognising - given his own failures - Bilal’s desire to keep the hope of love alive.
Writer and director Philippe Lioret keeps the tone of the film beautifully understated and extracts some outstanding performances from Lindon and Firat Ayverdi as well as Audrey Dana who plays Simon’s thoughtful ex-wife Marion. Without thumping the table, and with the focus always on the human relationships in his story, Lioret manages to explore a range of difficult social issues that we are only too familiar with here in Australia – attitudes towards displaced peoples, and the thorny path that comes with enshrining discrimination in the legal framework of a society.
With the slowly building rhythm, it’s one of those films that creeps up on you emotionally, thanks to the unobtrusive and naturalistic style, the simple and haunting score, and the engaging nature of the main characters with their very real needs for the love of someone close. A bonus, too, is that much of the dialogue is in English.
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