Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
Jean-Étienne Fougerole is an intellectual bohemian who released his new novel "In Open Arms" and calling the wealthiest people to welcome home the families in need. While he promotes his book during a televised debate, his opponent criticized him for not applying what he himself advocates. While stuck, Jean-Étienne Fougerole accepts the challenge, for fear of being discredited. The same evening, a family of Roma rings the door of his Marnes-la-Coquette villa and the writer feels obliged to house them.
With Open Arms is a French social comedy that uses the familiar fish-out-of-water/hypocrisy-exposed premise to lampoon bourgeois liberal guilt. The plot is competent and occasionally sharp in its satirical jabs, though it follows a predictable arc of discomfort leading to grudging acceptance. The acting is serviceable with decent comic timing from the leads, but nothing exceptional. Cinematography is unremarkable for the genre — functional suburban interiors and standard framing with little visual ambition. The novelty is moderate: the Roma integration angle gives it a specific cultural edge beyond generic class comedy, though the core concept of a hypocrite forced to live his ideals is well-trodden. The ending resolves too neatly and sentimentally for a film that aims at satirical bite, undercutting much of its earlier edge.