Stay With Us

<p><img alt="Laurel icon denoting the film is in competition for a Jury Prize." border="0" src="https://data.ajff.org/sites/default/files/2023-01/laurel_2023_JuryPrize_01.png" style="width:20%; max-width:20%; margin-left:10px; float:right;" />Paralleling his own real conversion to Catholicism, French-Jewish entertainer Gad Elmaleh takes a journey of spiritual discovery in this poignant, warmly humorous self-portrait. Fusing fictional and autobiographical elements, Elmaleh directs and stars—alongside his Jewish-Moroccan family—in this religious “coming out.” Harboring a crisis of faith, the actor-comedian returns home to Paris after some years in America. When his bewildered parents (Elmaleh’s actual mother and father, portraying themselves) discover their son’s plans to be baptized, a tumultuous struggle for acceptance ensues. Delicately facing a difficult topic, this affirmation of faith and family features moving, semi-improvised performances and trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf’s gentle fusion score.</p>