''This Is Our Land'' (french: Chez nous) is a 2017 French-Belgian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Lucas Belvaux Lucas Belvaux (born 14 November 1961) is a Belgian actor and film director. His directing credits include the ''Trilogie'', consisting of three films with interlocking stories and characters, each of which was filmed in a different genre. The t ...

and starring

Émilie Dequenne Émilie Dequenne (, born 29 August 1981) is a Belgian actress. She first gained attention for playing the title character in the film ''Rosetta'' (1999), which earned her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. She then went on to star ...

André Dussollier André Dussollier (born 17 February 1946) is a French actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as f ...

and

Guillaume Gouix Guillaume Gouix (; born 30 November 1983) is a French actor, director and screenwriter. He starred in the limited television series ''Gone for Good'' (2021). Career Guillaume Gouix learned acting at the Conservatory of Marseille, then at the Re ...

. It received seven nominations at the

8th Magritte Awards The 8th Magritte Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie André Delvaux, honored the best films of 2017 in Belgium and took place on 3 February 2018 at the Square in the historic site of Mont des Arts, Brussels, beginning at 8:45 p.m. CET ...

, including

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

and

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

for Belvaux, and won

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...

for Dequenne.

Plot

Pauline is a home nurse who lives with her children, Tom and Lili, and her father Jacques, a retired worker and former member of the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...

, in a small village in

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

, in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Pauline belongs to a working-class family and has to worry about supporting the whole family on her only salary. Pauline is much loved by her patients, thanks to her open and caring character. Doctor Philippe Berthier, a

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

physician who had assisted Pauline's mother before she died, approaches the woman to the ideas of a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

party led by Agnès Dorgelle, who proposes Pauline as candidate for mayor of her village. Pauline is reunited with Stéphane Stankowiak, an old friend from school, who trains the woman's son's soccer team. Pauline is unaware that Stéphane plays in a group of

skinheads A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...

thugs, from which he gradually tries to move away so as not to damage the woman's election campaign. Berthier invites Stéphane to move away permanently from Pauline, threatening to disclose his subversive militancy and his past as a hitter in the service of Dorgelle's party. When Pauline reveals to Jacques that she is running for mayor with a far-right party, he chases her away, saying he doesn't want to be the father of a

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

in any way. Pauline's patients are divided: the most conservative promise all their support, while the most progressive push her away. The same situation occurs among the nurse's friends: the

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

Nathalie joins her staff, also promoting a

fake news Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in reality ...

website against refugees who have settled in France in order to increase consensus, while Nada, French by birth but daughter of Slavic parents, accuses her of being only the pawn of a pack of

extremists Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied share ...

. Fearing for Pauline's safety, Stéphane asks some of his comrades to follow her secretly to avoid being attacked. However, the situation deteriorates and the skinheads seriously injure a Pauline protester with a firearm. When the girl tries to help the wounded, she is badly driven out by all the inhabitants of a popular apartment building. Desperate for being dismissed from father, friends and patients, and suspicious of Stéphane's gradual physical estrangement, Pauline visits Berthier, asking if he has anything to do with all this. Berthier reveals Stéphane's violent past to Pauline, asking her to choose between politics or love: Pauline chooses to be with Stéphane and to abandon the party, withdrawing from the mayor race and being promptly replaced by Nathalie. Reunited with Jacques, Pauline goes out with her children, her father and Stéphane to the stadium, having fun for the duration of the game. When Stéphane lends his cellphone to Lili for a few seconds to see the selfies taken during the match, the girl mistakenly shows the mother some photos taken by Stéphane and his comrades in which they threaten and mistreat a couple of refugees. Horrified by the pictures, Pauline flings herself on Stéphane, angrily beating him, until Jacques and the children manage to stop her fury and bring her home.

Cast

as Pauline Duhez *

as Philippe Berthier *

as Stéphane Stankowiak "Stanko" * Catherine Jacob as Agnès Dorgelle *

Anne Marivin Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

as Nathalie Leclerc *

Patrick Descamps Patrick Descamps (born 13 December 1956) is a Belgian actor and stage director. Theater Filmography Dubbing External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Descamps, Patrick 1956 births Living people People from Mons 20th-century Belgian male ...

as Jacques Duhez * Charlotte Talpaert as Nada Belisha * Mateo Debaets as Tom * Coline Marcourt as Lili * Corentin Lobet as Yo * Thibault Roux as Max * Michel Ferracci as Dominique Orsini *

Stéphane Caillard Stéphane Caillard (born 1 October 1988) is a French film and television actress. Since 1999, she has appeared in various films and drama series on French television. In 2004, she played Camille Dassin, the daughter of Richard Bohringer's chara ...

as Victoire Vasseur *

Cyril Descours Cyril Descours (born 15 July 1983 in Frankfurt) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than twenty feature films since 2000 as well as in French television films and series, and on stage. Career The mother of Cyril Descours was German and he ...

as Jean-Baptiste Verhaeghe * Julien Roy as Bernard Tovi *

Jean-Louis Sbille Jean-Louis Sbille (14 March 1948) is a Belgian-French-speaking artist, radio and television producer, actor and writer. Career In the mid-70s, with the graphic designer and art director, Marc Borgers they created RUPTZ, an art video and perfor ...

as Monsieur Biagi

Production

Filming began on 10 May 2016 in

Nord-Pas-de-Calais Nord-Pas-de-Calais (); pcd, Nord-Pas-Calés); is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-Cala ...

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

Béthune Béthune ( ; archaic and ''Bethwyn'' historically in English) is a city in northern France, sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department. Geography Béthune is located in the former province of Artois. It is situated south-east of Calais, ...

Hersin-Coupigny Hersin-Coupigny (; pcd, Hérsin-Coupigny) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography A farming town situated some west of Lens, at the junction of the D301 and the D65 roads. Population ...

and

Bruay-la-Buissière Bruay-la-Buissière (; vls, Bruwaei, pcd, Brouay-l'Bussière) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. Geography A former coalmining town some southwest of Béthune and southwest of ...

and was expected to complete on 4 July.

Reception

Critical reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 75%, based on 12 reviews, and an average rating of 6.2/10. Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

Critical reception

Controversy

Accolades

References

External links