Starring: Gad Elmaleh, Regine Elmaleh, David Elmaleh, Judith Elmaleh, and Rony Kramer
Distributor: StudioCanal
Runtime: 90 mins. Reviewed in Nov 2022
Reviewer: Peter W Sheehan
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This subtitled French film is a comedy about a Jewish man who decides to become a Catholic. His family strenuously objects, and pressures him to “stay with us”, giving meaning to the title of the film.
The film involves the family of acclaimed comedian, Gad Elmaleh, and is an autobiographical movie under his direction. The film addresses religious conversion. It argues the importance of affirming one’s beliefs; it asserts the relevance of showing tolerance for what others say; and it demonstrates Elmaleh’s deep love for his family.
Gad Elmaleh worked in the US for three years as a professional comedian. He returned to Paris to be baptised as a Catholic. He didn’t want to tell members of his family, fearing what they would think, say, and do. Despite doing all he could to hide the truth from his family, his probing parents found he had developed a deep devotion to the Virgin Mary, and didn’t understand that kind of devotion at all. He hid a religious statue in his belongings and when his family found the statue, it revealed the strength of his religious commitment, and they couldn’t accept what he had done. In their own words, they would much prefer him to be experiencing ‘a mid-life crisis’.
Gad’s path to Catholicism from the Jewish faith was deeply traumatic to his parents and family, and they tried every means possible to convince him to stay Jewish. His parents thought he could not have done a worse thing, and they were determined to convince him to return to the Jewish faith. Gad did all he could to communicate to his family that his change of faith in no way affected his Jewish, cultural-identity, or the deep love he felt for his family. Gad brings his family around to understand his beliefs, and the film creates genuinely comic moments in a battle of wits that Gad knew he had to win.
It is highly relevant to note that this is an autobiographical movie, and Gad’s story may not yet be finished. Gad’s understanding of Judaism and Catholicism has clearly influenced the film. His beliefs have shaped him as the film’s director and as its main actor. As a result, the film is extraordinarily, and movingly, authentic.
The film pointedly addresses the issue of ‘conversion’: what exactly promotes personal resolve to replace one set of religious beliefs, and with another? It is never an issue of having single moments of reflection, argument, or debate. Experiential accompaniment to one’s reflections and thought processes is critical, and the film conveys this powerfully. The movie suggests that devotion to the Virgin Mary might have been the operative factor for Gad, but that superficially reflects the truth. The film projects one man’s reflective path to grasp what ‘spirituality’ meant to him. The film is a comedy, but the dramatic subtleties of introspective discernment and reflection have yielded a drama that is immensely rewarding. We learn much in this movie about the stages of thought and feeling in the shift from one set of religious beliefs to another. This is a movie, that benefits a great deal from the director being an accomplished comedian, and a person, who is personally committed to finding a path to ‘religious spirituality’ that is meaningful to him.
As a result of Gad’s decision-making, the film teaches us how to better understand the need for open and frank dialogue when conflict with others – especially one’s own family – accompanies religious commitment.
Gad held onto his cultural identity, and love for members of his family, and the film tells us insightfully, how he succeeded in those respects. This is a warm, human movie that offers offence to no set of religious beliefs. It is a thoughtful and rewarding film.
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