THE OPINION OF THE “WORLD” – TO SEE
Black women who walk little “whites” in pushchairs, in Paris, or wait in the middle of the parents at the end of school. Two worlds that intersect and recount an almost invisible class struggle, social of course but also geographical: one takes care of other people’s children to earn enough to feed their own, with a few RER stations to finally reach the suburbs and its affordable rents. On this question which could have fueled a drama like the Dardenne brothers, Julien Rambaldi (Welcome to Marly-Gomont, That’s life) chooses to make a thunderous and joyful comedy, like its heroine, Angèle, played by the breathtaking Eye Haïdara.
Angèle sells odds and ends, Porte de Clignancourt. She has gab and manages to bamboozle the sores that are beginning to populate the outskirts, but she finds herself in debt and the “big guy” who drives the traffic is threatening. It’s time to cut ties. Precisely, his downstairs neighbor, Wassia (Bwanga Pilipili, bright), looks after children in the capital and knows a woman who is looking for a nanny. An appointment is made in the chic apartment of Hélène (Léa Drucker), an estranged woman who has an important job and little time to take care of her son, Arthur (Vidal Arzoni), and the youngest child.
Here is Angèle installed in the service room on the top floor of the freestone building. Of course, Angèle will go into the wall, but she manages to put Arthur in her pocket. Behind his long bangs which give him an air of miniature Beatles, the boy captures everything, and his disenchanted gaze will eventually light up again. Eye Haïdara and Vidal Arzoni form a funny and comical tandem, Laurel and Hardy style, she the big one and he the little one… The bigger it is, the better it goes, Angèle builds plans and Arthur moves mountains.
The chat as a gun
The skilful scenario, which leaves no detail to chance, bounces from misunderstandings to galleys and allows Eye Haïdara to take on in turn a street vendor, a nanny from the upscale neighborhoods, a fake lawyer quick to pull up the suspenders of bourgeoise who rips off her domestic worker. A veritable whirlwind seizes the Square d’Anvers, a pivotal place between the wealthy Avenue Trudaine and the working-class district of Barbès, from where Angèle sends money to her family who remained in Côte d’Ivoire. We are all the more surprised by the platounette soundtrack that accompanies this hellish train.
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