Tombés du ciel (1993)

Director:

Philippe Lioret

Writers:

Philippe Lioret (scenario) &
Michel Ganz (scenario)

Release Date:

23 February 1994 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

S'il n'avait pas perdu son passeport tout ca ne serait jamais arrive...

Plot:

A traveller who has lost his passport in a Paris airport while between flights is restricted to a special transit zone...

Plot Keywords:

Airport | Passport | Airplane | Independent Film

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Jean Rochefort	...	Arturo Conti
Marisa Paredes	...	Suzana, la femme d'Arturo
Ticky Holgado	...	Serge
Laura del Sol	...	Angela
Sotigui Kouyaté	...	Knak
Ismaïla Meite	...	Zola
Jean-Louis Richard	...	Monsieur Armanet
José Artur	...	Le marchand de journaux
Olivier Saladin	...	Le restaurateur
Claude Derepp	...	Bébert, le planton (as Claude Dereppe)
Jacques Mathou	...	Policier contrôle 1
Christian Sinniger	...	Policier contrôle 2
Yves Osmu	...	Policier commissariat
Dimitri Radochevitch	...	Le chauffeur du car
Pierre Laplace	...	Inspecteur commissariat

Also Known As:

En tránsito (Spain)
Lost in Transit (International: English title)
Va-nu-pieds (France) (working title)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

France | Spain

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Company:

Epithète Films

Movie Connections:

Version of The Terminal (2004)

Soundtrack:

La nostalgie - Daleko tan

Confined in an airport

The story focuses a short episode in the life of a guy who is forced by the circumstances to spend a few days in Paris international airport. During this forced stay, he meets four other people who are in a situation worse than his and have been confined (and still are) in a kind of underground airport facility, because they have not the papers needed to be allowed to enter legally french territory.

This fortuitous meeting, in which a new character shows up in a very small group of people, and therefore induces new moves in this group, invites to a small and personal reflection on human beings and society. Personal, because the story doesn't give a precise clue in this sense.

The story is not closed. At the end, the only expectation of progress in the life of those characters is the kind of adoption of Zola (the young African boy) by Arturo (the main character). The other characters are destined to stay confined in the airport, and future less.

Angela and Serge seem to be existentially stuck. Serge spend most of his time writing a kind of huge autobiography in which he tells his confuse origins. Angela, expect that the stars will help her to find a direction for her life. Knak works from time to time on an electronics device (a radio?) as if this device would give him answers to his actual life. Serge is french (with a strong Marseille accent), Angela is Columbian. Knak, remains an enigma from the begin to the end. No one knows from where he is and why he has been confined, because he speaks an African dead language.

Yet it's not a sad story, because: (1) there are a few hilarious moments during the film (2) those who are stuck still hope to get free one day; (3) at the end of the film I smiled seeing Arturo and Zola walking towards Paris where there is an expectation of a new life for them, specially for Zola who dreams about becoming a jet pilot.

It's a film which deserves to be seen on TV, before going to bed.