Review of The Bélier Family

I loved this film - it was absolutely charming, funny and moving. The Belier family are farmers and Mum, Dad and younger brother are all deaf, daughter Paula being their ears and mouth in the outside world. They rely on her, perhaps too much and, for any parent whose children are on the cusp of flying the nest, you feel for both Paula who wants to fly and her family who are afraid to let her go and to face the world without her.......Karin Viard and Francois Damiens portray Mr and Mme Belier so convincingly it's hard to believe that neither of them are deaf - although Mme Belier does strike me as rather too glamorous to be a farmer's wife (compared to farmers' wives that one meets in my part of rural France). Louane Emera (a former contestant on the French version of 'The Voice') plays a typical adolescent on the cusp of adulthood, wanting to find her own way and her own (singing) voice, making a break away from a loving and sometimes stifling family home and taking the first steps of independence.......