The Wolberg Family

Bozon spins vinyl in the Furman Gallery after the 9pm screening on Sunday, April 17! Complimentary beer & wine will be served. [We Card: You must be 21+ to be served alcoholic beverages.]

La France screenwriter Ropert’s superb debut feature is a seriocomic family drama centered around Simon Wolberg (François Damiens), the proud Jewish mayor of a small provincial town in northern France. Equally comfortable expounding on the American soul to a group of schoolkids as he is with the minutiae of city government, Wolberg’s public face hides some disturbing private troubles: at home he’s increasingly estranged from his wife, and his two teenage children don’t get him—nor he they. As the emotional fault lines that surround the good mayor begin to split apart around the time of his daughter’s 18th birthday, Simon must struggle to hold his family together. The wonderful ensemble cast includes a scene-stealing Bozon as Wolberg’s brother-in-law and constant headache.

 “A former film critic, Ropert has written the screenplays for the films directed by actor-director Serge Bozon. All of her scripts feature a slightly offbeat treatment of their subjects and dialogue that has a certain theatricality to it, as if each character had a background in oratory and psychology. But rather than sounding unnatural, the heightened language simply puts the characters and their situations under a magnifying glass, giving auds a closer look at their psychological makeup and the issues they struggle with.”
—Boyd van Hoeij, Variety

 “A smart and funny examination of nuclear bonds that reaches aural sublimity with its sound track of lesser-known ‘60s soul nuggets.”
—Melissa Anderson, Artforum