The best film I saw in the last year. A magnificent,sombre,sometimes distressing essay on the stresses of globalisation on urban and especially working class family life. A wonderful panorama of Marseille opens the film and anticipates its themes. The acting of a large ensemble(of Altmanesque proportions) is stunning. Music is used to counterpoint action and offers a final hint of something like hope. The several plot strands cohere skillfully in a superb and important film