Brother and Sister

Alice and Louis are siblings approaching fifty whose relationship broke down more than twenty years ago. She built a career as an actress, he worked as a teacher and a poet, and for two decades they avoided each other entirely. The death of their parents forces them back into the same city and the same hospital, bringing the estranged brother and sister face to face again.

Arnaud Desplechin directed the film, his fourth feature in the chronological list of his work, following The Beloved and Deception and preceding Filmlovers! and Two Pianos. He wrote the screenplay with Naïla Guiguet and Julie Peyr, and Pascal Caucheteux produced it for Why Not Productions with ARTE France Cinéma. Marion Cotillard plays Alice and Melvil Poupaud plays Louis, with Golshifteh Farahani, Cosmina Stratan, Max Baissette de Malglaive and Benjamin Siksou among the supporting roles.

The production had a budget of about 5 million dollars and runs 108 minutes. Audience response has been modest: on IMDb it holds 5.5 out of 10 from roughly 1,600 votes, and on TMDB 4.9 out of 10 from around 120 votes. These figures suggest a divided reaction rather than broad enthusiasm for this French drama about two people forced to confront a long-standing rift.