Ever since childhood, Clim and Bebe have been in love. Such is their suitability that both her parents and his dad soon put aside any doubts about the couple’s decision to marry so young; the only objections come from the boy’s strictly religious mother and sister, whose antipathy to the relationship intensifies when he’s arrested and imprisoned for raping awoman. The rest suspect he was framed by a racist cop (Bebe is black) and Clim determines to prove his innocence before she gives birth to their baby.
Robert Guediguian’s superlative transposition of a James Baldwin novel from New York to modern Marseilles is both a gem in its own right and a beautifully tender drama in the vein of his earlier Marius et Jeannette. Again, the setting is the multicultural district of Estaque; again, the central theme is how friendship, familial support, love, courage and a sense of communal purpose can alleviate or even overcome everyday social injustices.
France, 1998. English subtitles. Colour. Dolby stereo SR. 112min.