DRAMA; 1hr 43min (French with subtitles)
STARRING: Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Lotti
Band of brothers: from left, Lottin and Lavernhe
Some losing streaks can seem unstoppable. For celebrated conductor Thibaut Desormeaux (Lavernhe, elegant as an arpeggio), the bad news begins with a diagnosis of leukaemia, then boom-crashes into worse and worser with the odds for the matching DNA he urgently needs for a bone-marrow transplant standing at a whopping one in a million. Furthermore, since Thibaut is adopted — which is also unwelcome headline news to him — his only real prayer of a match is the younger brother he didn’t know he had. Jimmy Lecocq (Lottin) is a Lille school-cafeteria cook with a porn-starry name and a bristly disposition, who couldn’t be less concerned about his “Mr Posho” sib. Being DNA-compatible, however, Jimmy takes the moral option and does the right, life-saving thing.
Yet the kinship that grows between these two ostensible opposites has nothing to do with the cells that bind them in the beginning. It turns out that not only does marching-band trombonist Jimmy have perfect pitch, but he and Thibaut share a love of music that draws them closer, although the globally revered conductor wrestles with the guilt of a privilege of which Jimmy, too, is sharply aware. Jimmy is a vital part of a close-knit community; still, who knows how far he could have travelled if the dice had rolled in a different direction?
Roads not taken are a minefield in the making, but happily for Thibaut and Jimmy, director Emmanuel Courcol is all about spotlighting the possible. Showcased in a crowning scene by Ravel’s Boléro, the closeness the brothers never saw coming is a life-affirming gift and a weepy waiting to happen.
