Lioret’s Welcome in the headlines

11/03/2009

Enthusiastically received by critics and launched today by Mars Distribution on 209 screens, Philippe Lioret’s Welcome [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Philippe Lioret
film profile] has also caused political controversy.

Focusing on illegal immigrants trying to reach England from Calais and the risk taken by French people who help them (like the swimming instructor played by Vincent Lindon), the feature – inspired by the work of Ken Loach – has been the subject of an intense debate played out in the media.

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Lioret’s comparison between police tracking of today’s illegal immigrants and the rounding up of Jews in 1943 has angered the Immigration Minister, Eric Besson, who believes it is totally outrageous to draw such parallels. Meanwhile, Lindon has raised his objections to the law that makes "any person helping an illegal immigrant liable to serve a five-year prison sentence".

Lioret commented: "I thought to myself that this place was our version of the Mexican border, that we only had to delve deeper into the subject to find its rich dramatic potential". The director spoke “these people who flee their ailing countries and want at all costs to reach the Eldorado that England represents to them. After an impossible journey, they find themselves trapped in Calais, browbeaten, badly treated and humiliated, a few kilometres away from the English coast."

The director emphasised: "We had to leave aside the documentary aspect and bring the characters back to their personal story, to their emotional relationships". Whence the idea of the swimming instructor, who is "a fallible person and far from perfect, someone who isn’t initially interested in the problems of immigrants. The film shows how an encounter can help you to surpass yourself. I think we’ve all experienced this because we still want to believe in feelings and intelligence rather than cynicism and self-interest."

Recent winner of the Europa Cinemas Label Award in the Panorama section at the Berlinale (see review), Welcome was produced by Nord-Ouest Films in co-production with France 3 Cinéma, Studio 37 and the CRRAV. This is the sixth feature by Lioret, who enjoyed major success with Don’t Worry, I’m Fine [+see also:
trailer
film profile].