''Paulette'' is a 2012 French

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

directed by Jérôme Enrico. He wrote the script in cooperation with Bianca Olsen, Laurie Aubanel and Cyril Rambour. It has been said the plot was based on true events.

Plot

Paulette and her late husband had a

brasserie In France, Flanders, and the Francophone world, a brasserie () is a type of French restaurant with a relaxed setting, which serves single dishes and other meals. The word ''brasserie'' is also French for "brewery" and, by extension, "the bre ...

. Now the

xenophobic Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...

old lady lives alone in a

banlieue In France, the term banlieue (; ) refers to a suburb of a large city. Banlieues are divided into autonomous administrative entities and do not constitute part of the city proper. For instance, 80% of the inhabitants of the Paris Metropolitan Are ...

and her pension is too small to get along. In the course of a sequestration most of her furniture and also her TV set are seized. Moreover, the landline is cut off because of overdue bills. Paulette is desperate to earn money somehow and she hears there is much money to be made in dealing cannabis. She visits a known criminal named Vito in her area and asks him for work. He commissions her eventually to sell his cannabis. Yet the other dealers don't put up with her unexpected success. They beat her up and rob her. Again she is desperate because she has to deliver a certain amount of money to Vito. Instead of just distributing sheer cannabis she starts to sell cakes and biscuits spiced with cannabis. Soon there is a huge demand for her elaborate pastries. Vito's boss gets enthusiastic about her success and plans to sell her biscuits to pupils. When she refuses to support this idea, the villain kidnaps Paulette's grandson. She starts a spectacular attempt to free him but in the end it is her son-in-law Ousmane who saves the day. Finally she leaves France and opens a

cannabis coffee shop In the Netherlands, ''coffeeshops'' are establishments where the sale of cannabis for personal consumption by the public is tolerated by the local authorities. Under the drug policy of the Netherlands, the sale of cannabis products in sm ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, hereby becoming herself the kind of person she used to dislike: an

emigrant Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

Cast

Bernadette Lafont Bernadette Lafont (28 October 1938 – 25 July 2013) was a French actress who appeared in more than 120 feature films. She has been considered "the face of French New Wave". In 1999 she told ''The New York Times'' her work was "the motor of my e ...

as Paulette *

Carmen Maura María del Carmen García Maura (born 15 September 1945) is a Spanish actress. In a career that has spanned six decades, she has starred in films such as ''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'', ''¡Ay Carmela!'', '' Common Wealth'', and ...

as Maria *

Dominique Lavanant Dominique Lavanant (born 24 May 1944) is a César Award-winning French film and theatrical actress. She is known for her comedy skills especially with posh and distinguished characters like Rosalind Russell's; characters often defined by the ...

as Lucienne *

Françoise Bertin Françoise Bertin (23 September 1925 – 26 October 2014) was a French actress. She appeared in over 125 films since 1961. Among these were five films directed by Alain Resnais: ''Last Year at Marienbad'', '' Muriel'', '' The War Is Over'', '' ...

as Renée * André Penvern as Walter * Ismaël Dramé as Léo * Jean-Baptiste Anoumon as Ousmane *

Axelle Laffont Axelle Laffont (born 24 July 1970) is a French actress and comedian. She was born in Marseille. She is both the granddaughter of publisher Robert Laffont, and the daughter of Patrice Laffont, television presenter, and Catherine Laporte. She is ...

as Agnès * Paco Boublard as Vito *

Aymen Saïdi Ayman ( ar, أيمن, also spelled as Aiman, Aimen, Aymen, or Eymen in the Latin alphabet) is an Arabic masculine given name. It is derived from the Arabic Semitic root () for ''right'', and literally means ''righteous'', ''he who is on the right'' ...

as Rachid *

Pascal N'Zonzi Pascal N'Zonzi (born 1 January 1951) is a French actor and stage director. Filmography Theater Dubbing References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:N'Zonzi, Pascal 1951 births Living people French male film actors French male telev ...

as Father Baptiste

Reception

Brendan Kelly wrote for '' Montreal's Gazette'' and ''

The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published si ...

'' the film had "its highs and lows". Carola Almsinck (kinocritics.com) wrote on the occasion of the German release "Paulette" was a "very French" film and eligible as an "amusing fairytale".

References

External links

* * * {{rotten-tomatoes, paulette_2013, Paulette 2012 films 2010s crime comedy films 2010s French-language films Films set in France French crime comedy films French films about cannabis Stoner crime films 2012 comedy films 2010s French films