On the evidence of their worldwide smash "The Intouchables," as well as their latest comedy-drama Samba, writer-directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano specialize in well-intentioned, crowd-pleasing bullshit.
Samba
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
France · 2014
Rated R · 1h 58m
Director Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache
Starring Omar Sy, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Tahar Rahim, Izïa Higelin
Genre Comedy, Drama
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Samba migrated to France 10 years ago from Senegal, and has since been plugging away at various lowly jobs. Alice is a senior executive who is feeling burnt out. Both struggle to get their dead-end lives back on track until fate draws them together.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The Hollywood Reporter by Jordan Mintzer
Neither funny enough as an outright comedy nor solid enough as a drama, and certainly not believable as an affaire de coeur.
The Telegraph by Mike McCahill
Sy is such an attentive listener in close-up that you instantly grasp the frazzled Alice’s attraction; if she’s less well defined, Gainsbourg’s nervy intelligence and clenched-jaw resistance to sentimentality hold the interest nevertheless.
Even as Samba struggles to hold onto his identity, the film becomes entangled in an identity crisis of its own.
The Playlist by Nikola Grozdanovic
It’s a love story set in a contemporary world brimming with immigration issues, but it manages to be neither political drama, nor bubbly romance, somehow getting away with being labeled as a comedy.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
It is refreshing that this story does not simply unravel into miserablism, but the film’s weird narrative leaps are implausible and jarring.
Running a full reel longer than needed, the film’s balance of romance, humor and pathos starts to slip in the final stretch... though the emotional notes ring true.
Time Out London by Trevor Johnston
Both actors are tremendous. Sy adds powerful dramatic shading to his usual irresistible charm, while Gainsbourg hints at a sunnier disposition beneath her volatile nervousness.
Users who liked this film also liked
Sister Smile
(Sœur Sourire)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Belgium, France • 2009
- Director Stijn Coninx
- Cast Cécile de France, Sandrine Blancke, Jan Decleir, Johan Leysen, Chris Lomme, Marie Kremer
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
So Happy Together
(Tellement proches)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2009
- Director Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache
- Cast Vincent Elbaz, Isabelle Carré, François-Xavier Demaison, Audrey Dana, Omar Sy, Joséphine de Meaux
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Once Upon a Time in the Oued
(Il était une fois dans l'Oued)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2005
- Director Djamel Bensalah
- Cast Julien Courbey, Sid Ahmed Agoumi, David Saracino, Karina Testa, Marilou Berry, Amina Annabi
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Eisenstein in Guanajuato
In 1931, following the success of the film Battleship Potemkin, Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein travels to the city of Guanajuato, Mexico, to shoot a new film.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Netherlands, Belgium, Finland • 2015
- Director Peter Greenaway
- Cast Elmer Bäck, Luis Alberti, Rasmus Slätis, Jakob Öhrman
- Genre Comedy, Romance
- Available on Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, YouTube, Tubi TV
The Dream Team
(Les seigneurs)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2012
- Director Olivier Dahan
- Cast José Garcia, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Franck Dubosc, Gad Elmaleh, JoeyStarr, Ramzy Bedia
- Genre Drama, Comedy, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
On the Other Side of the Tracks
(De l'autre côté du périph)
- France • 2012
- Director David Charhon
- Cast Omar Sy, Laurent Lafitte, Sabrina Ouazani, Lionel Abelanski, Youssef Hajdi, Maxime Motte
- Genre Comedy, Action, Crime
- Available on The Roku Channel, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Two Lives
(Zwei Leben)
She built one life on love, the other on deceit.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany, Norway • 2012
- Director Georg Maas
- Cast Juliane Köhler, Liv Ullmann, Sven Nordin, Ken Duken, Dennis Storhøi, Vicky Krieps
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
Mood Indigo
(L'écume des jours)
In a surreal Paris, an inventive young man attempts to cure his lover’s unusual illness.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium • 2013
- Director Michel Gondry
- Cast Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh, Omar Sy, Aïssa Maïga, Charlotte Le Bon
- Genre Drama, Fantasy
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Fandor, Tubi TV, Freevee, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Frau Ella
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany • 2013
- Director Markus Goller
- Cast Matthias Schweighöfer, Ruth-Maria Kubitschek, August Diehl, Anna Bederke, Anatole Taubman, Tómas Lemarquis
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Green Prince
A gripping account of terror, betrayal, and unthinkable choices, along with a friendship that defies all boundaries.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany, United Kingdom, Israel • 2014
- Director Nadav Schirman
- Cast Mosab Hassan Yousef, Gonen Ben Yitzhak, Sheikh Hassan Yousef
- Genre Documentary, Thriller
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, fuboTV, Chai Flicks, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Crackle, Fandor, Tubi TV, VUDU Free, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
In the Courtyard
(Dans la cour)
An unlikely friendship forms between a depressed musician-turned-janitor and a neurotic retiree.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2014
- Director Pierre Salvadori
- Cast Catherine Deneuve, Pio Marmaï, Féodor Atkine, Nicolas Bouchaud
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Kanopy
Gemma Bovery
Unsatisfied with her dull married life, a passionate young Englishwoman engages in adultery.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, United Kingdom • 2014
- Director Anne Fontaine
- Cast Gemma Arterton, Jason Flemyng, Fabrice Luchini, Elsa Zylberstein, Isabelle Candelier, Niels Schneider
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Crackle, Tubi TV, VUDU Free, Freevee, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Tokyo Fiancée
A Japanophile young Belgian woman in Tokyo falls into a whirlwind romance with a Francophile Japanese student.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Belgium, France, Canada • 2014
- Director Stefan Liberski
- Cast Pauline Étienne, Taichi Inoue, Julie Le Breton, Alice de Lencquesaing, Akimi Ota, Hiroki Kageyama
- Genre Romance
- Available on OVID, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Kanopy
Pelts
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, United States • 2006
- Director Dario Argento
- Cast Meat Loaf, John Saxon, Ellen Ewusie, Link Baker, Michal Suchánek, Darren E. Scott
- Genre Horror, TV Movie
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube
Sidetracked
(Las ovejas no pierden el tren)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2015
- Director Álvaro Fernández Armero
- Cast Raúl Arévalo, Inma Cuesta, Alberto San Juan, Candela Peña, Jorge Bosch, Irene Escolar
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
We Are Young. We Are Strong.
(Wir sind jung. Wir sind stark.)
A nation united leaves a city divided.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany • 2014
- Director Burhan Qurbani
- Cast Devid Striesow, Jonas Nay, Trang Le Hong, Joel Basman
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Tobacconist
(Der Trafikant)
In 1938, a young man develops an unlikely friendship with famed psychologist Sigmund Freud.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Austria, Germany • 2018
- Director Nikolaus Leytner
- Cast Simon Morzé, Bruno Ganz, Johannes Krisch, Emma Drogunova, Karoline Eichhorn, Regina Fritsch
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Chai Flicks, Fandango At Home, Tubi TV, VUDU Free, Kanopy