Neuilly sa mère!
Neuilly Yo Mama!
2009 · France · 90 min
- Director
- Gabriel Julien-Laferrière
- Screenplay
- Djamel Bensalah, Gilles Laurent, Philippe de Chauveron
- Producer
- Djamel Bensalah, Isaac Sharry
Cast
What it is about
Sami is a fourteen-year-old teenager of North African descent who lives with his mother in Chalon-sur-Saône, a fairly poor city in Burgundy. When she takes a job on a boat, she sends him to live with her sister Djamila, who is married to a Frenchman and settled in Neuilly-sur-Seine, an affluent suburb of Paris. There, the boy has to adapt to a private school where social differences shape the relationships between classmates.
How it was made
The film was directed by Gabriel Julien-Laferrière from a screenplay by Djamel Bensalah, Gilles Laurent and Philippe de Chauveron, and produced by Bensalah together with Isaac Sharry. Samy Seghir leads the cast as Sami, alongside Rachida Brakni, Denis Podalydès and Booder. The comedy uses social inequality as a comic device, and its title plays on a vulgar French insult in which Neuilly serves as a euphemism. The title track was recorded by Faf Larage and Magic System.
Reception and legacy
Critics received the film with reservations. Cyril Perraudat, writing for cinema-france.com, gave it 5 out of 10 and called it «a pile of clichés», although he praised Seghir's performance. Cine'Magic found it boring and too predictable. Marwan Chahine, in Libération, praised its political jokes and allusions to public figures. A sequel was filmed years later, in 2018.
Stills
Trivia
A title with a double meaning
The title parodies a vulgar French insult. Neuilly works as a euphemism, so a word-for-word translation sounds almost nonsensical.
Comparisons with a classic comedy
Because it uses social inequality as a comic device, the film has been compared to La vie est un long fleuve tranquille, a French comedy from 1988.
Original Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.