A young French couple applies for adoption and months later ends up the proud parents of a baby boy named Benjamin. Only catch – he’s white and they’re black. Cue hysterical parental overreaction!
Silly, funny, feel good comedy-drama is just too delightful to resist. Lucien Jean-Baptiste (who also co-writes and directs) as Paul Aloka and Aïssa Maïga as Salimata Aloka make a very cute couple in this overly simplistic, at times, ridiculously preposterous and, somehow, still very entertaining romp.
Not only is Salimata’s mom, Mamita (Marie-Philomène Nga), freaking out and suggesting all sorts of bizarre and possibly illegal solutions to a problem that her daughter sees as a blessing, but her stone wall of a father, Ousmane (Bass Dhem), isn’t exactly showing any cracks either.
Added to the young couple’s troubles is Claire Mallet (Zabou Breitman), the highly pessimistic adoption agency employee who also happens to be in charge of their case. She does everything in her power to sabotage them during their six month probationary period.
Though mostly played for laughs, there are moments in HEHYE that deal realistically with the complications that come with adopting children from another race.
Like all new moms, Sali is overflowing with love for this pebble of life she cradles in her arms. Whether in a coffee shop or at the park, she can’t wait for others to come up to her and say, “What a beautiful baby! Congratulations!” Instead, her white friend gets the congratulations and Sali is dismissed as just another of the many black nannies trying to scratch out a living in France. Though these scenes are brief, the disappointment on Sali’s face is heartbreaking.
Most of the time, though, HEHYE is over-the-top silly and, in its most hysterical moments, absolutely daffy. Some of that works and some of it doesn’t.
On the ‘it works’ side of the ledger is Paul’s loopy, not completely there, pal Manu (Vincent Elbaz). Manu is in his own little world – a world where anything is possible. The logic that everyone else operates under is as elusive to him as flight is to turkeys. Wandering across the screen as if guided by a secret, skewed map only he has access to, Manu brings just the right amount of goofy chaos to the mix.
If you’re in the mood for something light, funny, at times ridiculous, with a dash of seriousness, then give this a look.
