Under threat in Algeria, Ismahel emigrates to France where he wants to live and work, with the hope that the people he's fleeing from will forget him the time he is away. In the letters that he writes to the daughter that he left behind in his homeland, he tells his own story in the guise of the biblical tale of Jonas and the Whale. Somewhere in France, an elderly farmer has just lost his young son. His three other children help him as much as they can to get through the trial of the funeral, but the ceremony is halted when the old man falls ill. The two stories unfold parallel to each other and are alternated.
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Cast
6 people
Olivier Gourmet
François
Known for
Cyrano, My Love
Rosetta
Michael Lonsdale
Serge
Known for
Moonraker
The Name of the Rose
Laurent Lucas
Chrétien
Known for
Raw
La Révolution
Axel Bogousslavsky
Paul
Known for
The Return of Martin Guerre
Thierry Bosc
Le prêtre
Known for
Counter Investigation
Seven Years of Marriage
Aurore Clément
Dora
Known for
Paris, Texas
Maigret
Arnaud des Pallières Director · Martin Wheeler Composer Thierry Machuel Composer
First release August 1, 2003 · Produced in France
Production
Les Films d'Ici
Production
France
Produced in
Languages
Original language
French
Spoken on screen
French
Release dates
Switzerland · August 1, 2003
Premiere · Locarno Film Festival
France · September 8, 2004
Theatrical
No release date listed for United States.
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Some details come from TheTVDB.