It looks like an old melodrama and yet this kind of story happens every day: Pablo,an Uruguayan left his French wife and abducts their child Felipe ;back in his homeland ,he dies in an accident and now the brat lives with his aunt and his grandma (who both believe that the mother is dead too) .But the mom is not prepared to accept it and sets off for Uruguay ,helped by a social worker.
The first third is a little confused and the viewer is somewhat lost .But as soon as Mehdi has his doubts and seems to give up kidnapping the child,the movie grows on you and grabs you till the very last pictures,which are (more or less) an open ending.
The movie is half French half Spanish ,which makes sense for all the action takes place in Uruguay ;the director ,Olivier Peyon often films on location ,and takes us to a country French people do not know much about: we feel a country still entrenched in religion :we attend Felipe's communion ,complete with lilting songs ,far from our fusty canticles ;much to our surprise ,every communicant is applauded by the whole congregation.
Felipe is used to another life (a life elsewhere,that's what the title means),he's got his friends and his aunt and his grannie show lots of affection although ,on the communion day , he is reluctant and says to them :" the others have got parents ,I haven't".From the start ,when he makes Felipe's family's acquaintance ,Mehdi has understood the dilemma .Little by little ,he makes the distraught mom realize that she should be careful and not take everything for granted: isn't he happy in his new country?She's still young and can start a brand new life whereas the grandmother lost her son and the aunt has devoted her whole life to her nephew.
Ramzi Bedia and Maria Duplaa almost steal the show from Isabelle Carré ,whose character is not always shown in a flattering light anyway.Although there's certainly a mutual attraction between the aunt and the social worker (and the mother seems to believe so),the screenwriters do not fall into the trap and spare us conventional love scenes; much to their credIt.
Olivier Peyon has mainly directed shorts to date.Let's hope he will make more films in the future.
