Once again Audiard articulates big themes within a mosaic of everyday struggles. A painful yet rewarding tale of social strife and uplifting resilience.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Screen International by Allan Hunter
Proceeds without flashy tricks or showy technique, offering the pleasures of captivating storytelling with an irresistible human pulse.
This may not be the director’s most immediately electrifying film, but in its understated way, it’s an immensely powerful work.
Ultimately, Dheepan is the story of three people struggling to maintain their humanity, even as they lose their identities.
This is a strong movie about a man in need of a new start, made by someone who could benefit from one of his own.
The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney
It shows Audiard once again drawn to resilient people in punishing situations, and its arc from the opening images of death to its final notes of hope and wholeness is quite moving.
Slant Magazine by Jesse Cataldo
Jacques Audiard's film struggles to overcome the burden of its over-simplified, moralizing setup.
A mix of Loachian social realism and Death Wish-style violent fantasy.
The Playlist by Oliver Lyttelton
This really is Audiard operating at the top of his game, mostly dropping the contrivances of "Rust & Bone" for incisive character studies and a deeply humane, almost warm, worldview.
What keeps Dheepan engaging throughout is the tremendous charisma of the performers.