| Oh Mercy! | |
| Native Name: | |
| Director: | Arnaud Desplechin |
| Producer: | Pascal Caucheteux Grégoire Sorlat |
| Starring: | Roschdy Zem Léa Seydoux Sara Forestier Antoine Reinartz |
| Music: | Grégoire Hetzel |
| Cinematography: | Irina Lubtchansky |
| Editing: | Laurence Briaud |
| Studio: | Why Not Productions Arte France Cinéma |
| Distributor: | Le Pacte |
| Runtime: | 119 minutes |
| Country: | France |
| Language: | French |
| Gross: | $2,851,541[1] |
Oh Mercy! (fr|'''Roubaix, une lumière'''|lit=Roubaix, a light) is a 2019 French crime drama film directed by Arnaud Desplechin. The film was inspired by the 2008 TV documentary Roubaix, commissariat central, directed by Mosco Boucault.[2] It stars Roschdy Zem, Léa Seydoux, Sara Forestier, and Antoine Reinartz. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.[3] [4]
One Christmas night in Roubaix, the local police chief Daoud, and Louis, a fresh recruit, are confronted with the violent murder of an elderly woman. The victim's two young, female neighbours, Claude and Marie, are arrested.[5]
The film had its world premiere in the Competition section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival on 22 May 2019.[6] It was released in France on 21 August 2019.[7]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of .[8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9]
David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a grade of C−, writing, "Forestier and Seydoux are both fantastically desperate as dead end citizens who met each other at a very dangerous time in their lives, but Desplechin fails to make full use of his actors; instead of allowing them to shade in their characters, he pummels the audience into an ambiguous state of forced sympathy."[10] Chuck Bowen of Slant Magazine gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, commenting that "The film's master image is among the greatest images of Desplechin's career: the women, recreating their strangulation of the victim for the police, briefly hold their hands together under the victim's pillow."[11]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur | 4 October 2019 | Bayard d'or | Oh Mercy! | [12] | |
| Lumières Award | 27 January 2020 | Best Film | Oh Mercy! | [13] | |
| Best Director | Arnaud Desplechin | ||||
| Best Actor | Roschdy Zem | ||||
| Best Cinematography | Irina Lubtchansky | ||||
| Jacques Deray Prize | 22 February 2020 | [14] [15] | |||
| César Award | 28 February 2020 | Best Film | Oh Mercy! | [16] | |
| Best Director | Arnaud Desplechin | ||||
| Best Actor | Roschdy Zem | ||||
| Best Supporting Actress | Sara Forestier | ||||
| Best Adaptation | Arnaud Desplechin and Léa Mysius | ||||
| Best Cinematography | Irina Lubtchansky | ||||
| Best Original Music | Grégoire Hetzel |