The Belier Family * * *

This is a charming little film.  It’s been a box office smash in it’s home country apparently.  Perhaps not so much among the French intelligentsia. But I’m not French or particularly intelligent so I’ll go with it.

It’s a real crowd pleaser.  It’s a bit contrived, but it’s a clever contrivance that does get to you (you’ll find out when your eyes go all misty at the end).

A deaf farming family are reliant upon their (full hearing)  young daughter, Paula, to help with communicating to the outside world. But she is growing up and wants her own experiences.

A new singing teacher at the school discovers she can sing - can she ever!

Although it asks us to overlook a few things - like an appearance that defies her age . She doesn’t look thirteen or fourteen, she looks like she is in her late teens.  

There are a couple of B stories but they don't do much with them. Like Dad running to be the local mayor and Mum with a fungal infection in the private area (unusual B story that one).  There is also the school Queen Bee who takes pleasure in ostracising Paula.

The family are very warm and mutually supporting and you can’t help but like them.

The final scene where Paula auditions with her parents watching manipulates our emotions beautifully. BYO tissues.