''Macadam Stories'' (french: Asphalte) is a 2015 French

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

written and directed by

Samuel Benchetrit Samuel Benchetrit (born 26 June 1973) is a French writer, actor, scenarist, and director. Biography Benchetrit was born to a family of Romani, Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. At age fifteen, he quit school to focus on photography. B ...

, and based on the first volume of Benchetrit's autobiography ''Les Chroniques de l'Asphalte''. The film was selected to be screened in the Special Screenings section at the

2015 Cannes Film Festival The 68th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 May 2015. Joel and Ethan Coen were the Presidents of the Jury for the main competition. It was the first time that two people chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers each received a separat ...

Plot

The elevator in the apartment complex breaks down and residents have to pay for the repair, but the dull middle-aged Sternkowitz, who lives on the first floor, refuses to pay for the repair. In the end, Sternkowitz was exempt from paying on the condition that he didn't use the elevator, but shortly after, he was injured and confined to a wheelchair. Then, he secretly uses the elevator so that no one can see him, and goes out to buy food in the middle of the night in the vending machine of a hospital. However, when the night shift nurse finds him, he immediately lies and says: "I'm a photographer who is scouting locations". Attracted to her, he goes to see her at the hospital in a wheelchair every night at recess. As they approached, Sternkowitz offered to take her picture, to which she agreed. One night, he decides to go to the hospital, but the elevator breaks down and he's unable to get out of the hospital. Desperate, he managed to escape from the elevator and was dragged to the hospital. When their appointment has passed and the nurse finally comes home from her night shift, Sternkowitz honestly confesses that he's not a photographer. Teenage boy Charly lives with his mother, who is often away from home and spends most of his time alone. One day, a middle-aged woman named Jeanne Meyer moves into the next room. She used to be an actress, but now she has no roles and she's totally depressed. She can't stand Charly, who is too stupid to live alone. The return capsule carrying astronaut John Mackenzie crash-lands on the roof of the apartment complex due to a mistake. Wanting to cover up the emergency,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

asks Madame Hamida, an Algerian immigrant woman living on the top floor of the complex, to protect him for two days until he can be picked up. She treated him like a son, feeding him couscous, and lent her son's room and clothes, while the latter is in jail. John doesn't understand French and Madame Hamida doesn't understand English, so sometimes they don't get along, but they get along like mother and son.

Cast

Isabelle Huppert Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world", she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality. She is the recipient of sev ...

as Jeanne Meyer * Gustave Kervern as Sternkowitz *

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, also written Bruni-Tedeschi (; born 16 November 1964), is an Italian-French actress, screenwriter and film director. Her 2013 film, '' A Castle in Italy,'' was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. ...

as The Nurse * Tassadit Mandi as Madame Hamida * Jules Benchetrit as Charly *

Michael Pitt Michael Carmen Pitt (born April 10, 1981) is an American actor, model, and musician. Pitt is known in film for his roles in '' Murder by Numbers'' (2002), Bernardo Bertolucci's '' The Dreamers'' (2003), Gus Van Sant's '' Last Days'' (2005), and ...

as John McKenzie * Mickaël Graehling as Dédé * Larouci Didi as Mouloud * Thierry Gimenez as Monsieur Gilosa

Accolades

References

External links

* 2015 films 2015 comedy-drama films 2010s French-language films French comedy-drama films Films based on biographies 2010s English-language films 2010s French films {{2010s-France-film-stub