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‘L’Histoire de Souleymane’ tugs at heartstrings in portrayal of one man’s journey to seek asylum

The film was screened this past Sunday as part of the Providence French and Francophone Film Festival at Thayer Street’s Avon Cinema.

The Avon display, open for the Providence French and Francophone Film Festival.

Viewers are led into the world of Souleymane and other food delivery couriers, who have become integral to city life in the 21st century.

The 2024 film “L’Histoire de Souleymane” was screened this past Sunday as part of the Providence French and Francophone Film Festival at Thayer Street’s Avon Cinema. Directed by French filmmaker Boris Lojkine, the film is a brief but powerful look at one asylum seeker’s struggle for safety.

The film follows food delivery courier Souleymane (Abou Sangaré) in the 48 hours leading up to his interview with the Office Français de Protection des Réfugiés et Apatrides, a French agency involved in granting asylum to refugees and people lacking citizenship. An immigrant from Guinea, Souleymane seeks asylum using falsified documents and an invented narrative about leaving the country to flee persecution. In reality, Souleymane left Guinea in hopes of making enough money to care for his mother, who faces mental health challenges.

In an interview with Final Cut Magazine, Lojkine shared that his “inspiration for ‘L’Histoire de Souleymane’ came from observing the lives of bicycle couriers in Paris.” 

“These individuals, often undocumented, are highly visible yet live clandestine lives,” he added. “I wanted to explore their stories and the broader social issues they face.”

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The film is heart-wrenching in its play on Paris’s moniker as the “City of Light.” The film’s color grading is saturated in cool tones, capturing the essence of what Paris becomes for Souleymane: a strange, harsh city that requires the utmost caution to navigate.

Sangaré is stunning in his first major on-screen role. The actor’s embodiment of Souleymane is visceral: Close shots of his face, lit solely by the light from his phone, capture Souleymane’s desperation to stop time as the asylum interview inches closer. Sangaré acts with an unmistakable authenticity that he lends effortlessly to his character, whether Souleymane is arguing with a restaurant employee — played by Lojkine himself — or teasing his friends.

The movie clocks in at just over 90 minutes, and its rapidity is tangible. The footage is intentionally shaky, as the cinematographers filmed Souleymane zipping through Parisian streets on his bicycle while riding on bicycles themselves. Viewers are led into the world of Souleymane and other food delivery couriers, who have become fixtures of metropolitan life in the 21st century. 

Devoid of any music, the film is a bona fide sonic experience. Cars honking, alarms in a shelter blaring in unison and the joviality of young men are the soundtrack to Souleymane’s daily life as he ekes out a meager living. 

What is striking about the film is its lack of judgment, particularly as Souleymane crafts a fake narrative to secure asylum in France. The filmmakers do not condemn Souleymane as he tries everything to tell the perfect story. Instead, “L’Histoire de Souleymane” pushes moviegoers to consider how immigration policies minimize the individual experiences of people who, like Souleymane, are merely seeking refuge.

This is what makes the film a breathtaking cinematic feat: Every moment spent with Souleymane is infused with a distinct tenderness. In the 48 hours preceding his asylum interview, viewers watch as life’s challenges grow nearly insurmountable for Souleymane. In the end, the false narrative he creates to obtain asylum is irrelevant. What rings true is the humanity in his desperation, and our desire to root for someone so intent on persevering. 

The film reaches its climax in the final scene, when Souleymane’s OFPRA interview begins at last. What ensues is a masterclass in tension. Nina Meurisse gives a sublime performance as the OFPRA agent interviewing him. As Souleymane’s story unravels, Meurisse’s facial expressions capture what words can not: heartbreak for the young man across from her, whose lived experience has been more painful than any false story could be. 

At the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, “L’Histoire de Souleymane” won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard category and secured Sangaré a Best Actor award. Its positive reception with critics and viewers alike is notable, primarily because of the film’s unique approach to its controversial themes. It does not make a poor attempt at commentary on immigration and the desperate measures it induces from people across the world. Instead, it captures the powerful resilience of one man whose experience is shared by millions of asylum seekers everywhere. The film’s portrayal of Souleymane’s journey hides within it the vulnerability that exists inside us all — a sense of humanity that flares up even in the most impossible of situations.

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