| Oh Mercy! | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| French | Roubaix, une lumière |
| Directed by | Arnaud Desplechin |
| Written by | Arnaud Desplechin Léa Mysius |
| Based on | Roubaix, commissariat central by Mosco Boucault |
| Produced by | Pascal Caucheteux Grégoire Sorlat |
| Starring | Roschdy Zem Léa Seydoux Sara Forestier Antoine Reinartz |
| Cinematography | Irina Lubtchansky |
| Edited by | Laurence Briaud |
| Music by | Grégoire Hetzel |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Le Pacte |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 119 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Box office | $2,851,541[1] |
Oh Mercy! (French: 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 59% based on 29 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10.[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 | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur | 4 October 2019 | Bayard d'or | Oh Mercy! | Won | [12] |
| Lumière Awards | 27 January 2020 | Best Film | Oh Mercy! | Nominated | [13] |
| Best Director | Arnaud Desplechin | Nominated | |||
| Best Actor | Roschdy Zem | Won | |||
| Best Cinematography | Irina Lubtchansky | Nominated | |||
| Jacques Deray Prize | 22 February 2020 | Won | [14][15] | ||
| César Award | 28 February 2020 | Best Film | Oh Mercy! | Nominated | [16] |
| Best Director | Arnaud Desplechin | Nominated | |||
| Best Actor | Roschdy Zem | Won | |||
| Best Supporting Actress | Sara Forestier | Nominated | |||
| Best Adaptation | Arnaud Desplechin and Léa Mysius | Nominated | |||
| Best Cinematography | Irina Lubtchansky | Nominated | |||
| Best Original Music | Grégoire Hetzel | Nominated |
