It is summertime in Paris in the sixties. Adolescent Moise (Pierre Boulanger) nicknamed Momo, lives with his father (Gilbert Melki) on the cities rue Bleue. His mother and older brother left years ago, so he and his father have settled into an acrimonious routine in which Momo spends his days alone, watching the world go by and making supper. Momo’s papa constantly compares him to his absent brother and even forgets his birthday.
The neighbourhood shopkeeper, Ibrahim (Omar Sharif, in what may be his most charming role) watches Momo grow up and, as the boys’ teen years present ever more isolating challenges, Ibrahim takes him under his wing. Ibrahim follows the Sufi Faith and, as Momo shares in his new father-figures’ generosity, vitality and piety, a brighter future opens before him.
Based upon Eric Emmanuel Schmitt’s novel, the story unfolds through inspired vignettes: a film crew recreates a scene from Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Mepris in the middle of the rue Bleue (complete with a cameo by Isabelle Adjani in the Bardot role); Ibrahim and Momo pay for a gleaming new convertible-in cash; the pair exalt in the extraordinary sight of the dance of Sufi whirling dervishes; and an exquisite montage of panoramic skies allows us to share their experience of travelling-as though by flying carpet-over Europe to Ibrahim’s Turkish home. With astonishingly beautifulcinematography and phenomenal performances by the young Boulanger and the incomparable Sharif, this touching film leads us back in time, down bustling Parisian streets and finally across Europe as we join the protagonists on their emotional journey.