Peter Bradshaw 

Samba review – tough social realism meets sugary romantic comedy

A mismatch of tones, weird narrative leaps, scenes that go nowhere, but at least it doesn’t decend into miserablism
  
  

Omar Cy and Charlotte Gainsbourg as Samba and Alice.
A romcom with grit … Omar Sy and Charlotte Gainsbourg as Samba and Alice. Photograph: Allstar/Gaumont

Here’s an oddity: a tonal mismatch in which the surprises are not entirely intentional. It’s part tough social realism, part sugary romantic comedy drama from the French commercial mainstream. Omar Sy plays Samba, an illegal in Paris who is picked up by the immigration authorities and faces deportation, despite 10 years of blameless law-abiding work as a kitchen porter. Charlotte Gainsbourg plays Alice, the sister of the stressed pro bono immigration lawyer who takes up Samba’s case, and Tahar Rahim is Wilson, a guy who befriends him. Inevitably, there is a spark between Samba and Alice. It is refreshing that this story does not simply unravel into miserablism, but the film’s weird narrative leaps are implausible and jarring. Scenes end up going nowhere: gritty reality sometimes gives way to farcical silliness, and Gainsbourg is not well cast in this rather gooey role.

 

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