Jean leaves the farm and goes to his older brother Georges in Paris but he's away covering the war in Kosovo. Georges's girlfriend Anne Laurent (Juliette Binoche) is an actress. Jean throws a crumpled bag onto Maria (Luminita Gheorghiu)'s lap. She's an illegal immigrant from Romania begging on the street. Amadou (Ona Lu Yenke), an African Muslim decent, takes offense and tries to drag Jean back to apologize. Jean refuses to apologize and a scuffle ensues. The police arrives and arrests Amadou. Maria is deported. There are also scenes of deaf children.
There is the one great scene at the beginning of this movie. It is the source of the drama but the rest of the movie feels less compelling. It is simply too subtle. It doesn't follow the group to the police station. Amadou's story takes forever before it gets back to him. The various stories simply meanders to their separate destinations. The movie is like a big explosion that sends separate flames out into space but the flames just slowly goes out rather that setting off new explosions.
There is the one great scene at the beginning of this movie. It is the source of the drama but the rest of the movie feels less compelling. It is simply too subtle. It doesn't follow the group to the police station. Amadou's story takes forever before it gets back to him. The various stories simply meanders to their separate destinations. The movie is like a big explosion that sends separate flames out into space but the flames just slowly goes out rather that setting off new explosions.