Father & Soldier (French: Tirailleurs) is a 2022 French-Senegalese war-drama film directed and co-written by Mathieu Vadepied, starring Omar Sy, Alassane Diong, and Jonas Bloquet. It was produced by Omar Sy and Bruno Nahon. The film opened the Un Certain Regard section in competition at the 75th Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 2022,[1] and was released in theaters in France by Gaumont on 4 January 2023, and in Senegal by Pathé BC Afrique on 6 January 2023.

Father & Soldier
FrenchTirailleurs
Directed byMathieu Vadepied
Screenplay by
  • Olivier Demangel
  • Mathieu Vadepied
Produced by
  • Bruno Nahon
  • Omar Sy
Starring
CinematographyLuis Armando Arteaga
Edited byXavier Sirven
Music byAlexandre Desplat
Production
companies
  • Unité
  • Korokoro
Distributed by
Release dates
Running time
109 minutes[4]
Countries
Languages
Budget$14 million[5]
Box office$8.5 million[6]

Plot

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During World War I, in 1917, Senegalese Bakary Diallo enlists in the French Army in order to be with his 17-year-old son, Thierno, who was forcibly recruited. Sent to the Western front, they try to find the means to return to Senegal - Bakary through underground contacts and Thierno through the command structure.

Cast

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  • Omar Sy as Bakary Diallo
  • Alassane Diong as Thierno
  • Jonas Bloquet as Lieutenant Chambreau
  • Bamar Kane as Salif
  • Oumar Sey as Abdoulaye

Production

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With a $14 million budget,[5] the film was produced by Bruno Nahon's Unité and Omar Sy's Korokoro in co-production with Gaumont, France 3 Cinéma, Mille Soleils and Sy Possible Africa.[1] It was co-produced by Mathieu Vadepied, with Maryvonne Le Meur and Caroline Nataf serving as associate producers.[1] The screenplay was written by Vadepied and Olivier Demangel.[4]

Alexandre Desplat composed the original music for the film.[7]

Filming

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The film was shot in France from 23 August 2021 to 13 October 2021, before moving on to Senegal in January 2022.[8] It was partially shot in Neufmaison, Ardennes.[9]

Release

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A 1-minute clip from the film was released on Le HuffPost's YouTube channel on 19 May 2022.[10] On 10 November 2022, the film's official poster and official trailer were released.[11][12]

The film had its world premiere at the 75th Cannes Film Festival as the opening film in the Un Certain Regard section on 18 May 2022.[1] It will be distributed in France and internationally by Gaumont.[1] It was released in French cinemas on 4 January 2023,[2] and in Senegal by Pathé BC Afrique on 6 January 2023.[3]

Reception

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Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 83% based on 6 reviews.[13]

AlloCiné, a French cinema website, gave the film an average rating of 3.3/5, based on a survey of 27 French reviews.[14]

Box Office

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The film sold over 55,000 tickets on its first day of release in France,[15] with 2,034 viewers per screening in 554 theaters.[16][17] During its first weekend of release, Father & Soldier sold over 456,000 tickets, ranking number two at the box office, behind Avatar: The Way of Water (1,6 million entries), and in front of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (168,061 entries)[18]

Accolades

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Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Cannes Film Festival 27 May 2022 Un Certain Regard Mathieu Vadepied Nominated [19]
Festival France Odéon de Florence 28 October 2022 Feuille d'or pour la musique Alexandre Desplat Nominated [20]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Ramachandran, Naman (26 April 2022). "Omar Sy's 'Father & Soldier' to Open Un Certain Regard at Cannes". Variety.
  2. ^ a b "Tiralleurs". Gaumontpresse (in French). Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Father & Soldier". Unifrance. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d "TIRAILLEURS - Festival de Cannes". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  5. ^ a b Keslassy, Elsa (26 October 2021). "'Lupin' Star Omar Sy Reteams With Gaumont on War-Action Drama 'Father & Soldier' – AFM (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.
  6. ^ "Father & Soldier (2022)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  7. ^ "Alexandre Desplat Scoring Mathieu Vadepied's 'Father & Soldier'". Film Music Reporter. 10 May 2022.
  8. ^ Lemercier, Fabien (25 August 2021). "Omar Sy is filming Father & Soldier". Cineuropa.
  9. ^ "Ardennes. Le tournage du film " Tirailleurs ", avec Omar Sy, débute ce lundi à Neufmaison". Ouest-France (in French). 23 August 2021.
  10. ^ "Omar Sy en tirailleur sénégalais dans un extrait de "Tirailleurs"". YouTube (in French). 19 May 2022.
  11. ^ Sy, Omar (10 November 2022). "En cette veille d'Armistice 1918, découvrez l'affiche de #Tirailleurs, au cinéma le 4 janvier 2023". Twitter (in French).
  12. ^ "TIRAILLEURS - Bande-annonce [Le 4 janvier au cinéma]". YouTube (in French). 10 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Father & Soldier". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  14. ^ "Critiques presse pour le film Tirailleurs". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  15. ^ Baronnet, Brigitte (5 January 2023). "Box-office : Omar Sy en tête du 1er jour France avec Tirailleurs". Allociné (in French).
  16. ^ Colon, Tanguy (5 January 2023). "Box-office 1er jour : Tirailleurs vise juste". Boxoffice Pro (in French).
  17. ^ Lott, Bertrand (10 January 2023). "Box-office : Tirailleurs part en flèche, Avatar 2 franchit les 10 millions d'entrées". Télérama.
  18. ^ Algan, Aysegül (11 January 2023). "Box-office hebdo : Avatar 2 change d'altitude, mais domine toujours". Boxoffice Pro (in French).
  19. ^ "The films of the Official Selection 2022 - Festival de Cannes". festival-cannes.com. 14 April 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  20. ^ "France Odeon 2022". www.franceodeon.com. 28 October 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
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