52 Films by Women Vol 8. 48. Just a Couple of Days (Director: Julie Navarro)

Pictured: Jaded journalist Arthur (Benjamin Biolay) reacquaints himself with refugee advocate Mathilde (Camille Cottin, right) who introduces him to Afghan refugee Daoud (Amrullah Safi, centre) in the French comedy drama, Quelques Jours Pas Plus (Just a Couple of Days), co-written and directed by Julie Navarro. Still courtesy of BAC Films (France)

Just a Couple of Days (Quelques Jours Pas Plus), the feature debut of casting director turned actual director, Julie Navarro, is an appealing comedy-drama about a music-loving journalist, Arthur (Benjamin Biolay) and a lawyer turned activist, Mathilde (Camille Cottin) who circle one another in a will-they-won’t-they relationship orbiting Daoud (Amrullah Safi), an Afghan refugee whom Arthur agrees to accommodate for the ‘couple of days’ of the title. Navarro, who co-wrote the script with Marc Salbert, on whose research the film is based, gives us a series of cliches that nevertheless prove an agreeable gateway to making us think for sympathetically towards refugees. Sometimes, it’s good to have honey in your tea, yes?

Arthur is your average late middle-aged ass-half (on his way to whole) who when we first see him is lying to his editor (Hippolyte Girandot) about the cause of 11,000 Euro worth of damage in his hotel room. He is about to have hot sex with a young intoxicated Russian woman who is in mid undress when she is convinced that there is a camera in the room, specifically the mini bar. The pair lug it out of the room onto the balcony, where it teeters on the edge of the balcony wall and falls onto the roof of a car. The Russian girl is later found passed out in a 250 Euro bathrobe. Arthur explains that the minibar emitted a hum which bothered him. He could not switch it off because the battery in it retained energy. No, he is not the sort of man to steal a hotel bathrobe. NB: we see him in a branded white towelling bathrobe later on.

Unimpressed, his editor announces that he will recover the 11,000 Euro fine from Arthur’s salary and demotes him to current affairs. Accompanied by a photographer, Hassan (Makita Samba) he is sent to deal with the ejection of a number of refugees from a makeshift tented camp. There he meets Mathilde who points him towards some of those being moved on. He attempts to interview Daoud, before the riot police turn on a hose as a means to disperse the crowd. Arthur goes to speak with the police, announcing that he is a journalist, but then is clubbed on the head.

Ah, the bump on the noggin that turns a self-absorbed individual into a concerned, caring man via the noble stranger who reminds him of the value of human dignity. It is no wonder that French audiences hate their own cinema. There is no question that the formula works, though it relies on the demonization of the French police and on grumpy neighbours, to whom no such sympathetic portrayal is extended. Nevertheless, done with a certain amount of charm, as here, the film cannot but put little smiles on our faces.

Given sick leave for a month, Arthur recovers in his messy flat – you know the sort, it may be messy but it’s my mess, organised chaos - don’t touch the albums! He receives a phone call from Mathilde. ‘Come to a meeting of Exile Solidarity.’ There he is invited on stage as a poster child (or middle-aged man with a bandage on his head) for police brutality. Attendees are asked to take in displaced refugees. Since he approached him for an interview, Arthur leaves with Daoud, an Afghan man in his mid-twenties who doesn’t want asylum in France but rather to travel to England to be with his father and brother. His father, we learn, worked for the British Army. Daoud was left behind. Fearing for his life, he fled the country, though it is unclear why he didn’t leave with other family members.

Daoud’s best option is to claim asylum in France, something he is reluctant to do. In the meantime, he is introduced to Arthur’s chaos. Daoud is offered the sofa. ‘It is also a bed,’ Arthur explains, trying to extend it. ‘It’s ok,’ Daoud replies, putting his bag down. Arthur offers him a glass of wine. Daoud refuses, naturally.

The next morning, Arthur wakes to discover that his flat is tidied up. That’s one cliché we can tick off the list. He accompanies Daoud to Exile Solidarity’s office, another example of organised chaos filled with activity. We get a virtual tour as Arthur searches for Mathilde, who is not in one room, try the next. He is shown the kitchen, in which Daoud is put to work – take a look, people, he can slice. Eventually, Arthur finds Mathilde in an office. There are problems. The municipality doesn’t want the group to set up at one particular site. ‘It creates a meeting point.’ Far better that they open a food truck. This is beyond Exile Solidarity’s means.

Arthur is given a number for Daoud to call in order to arrange the submission of his asylum application. It must be in person. For the next few scenes, Arthur rings them. ‘Why do they have such bad on-hold music?’ he asks. ‘It’s to put you off waiting,’ he is told. One of Exile Solidarity’s volunteers has a son who is in a band. He wants to get into Hell Fest. ‘That’s ambitious,’ notes Arthur, though as far as he is concerned, the refugees he has encountered are in their own form of hell. The volunteer offers to send Arthur a link. He later asks about progress.

Arthur is attracted to Mathilde. She is everything the Russian girl isn’t. Sober. Not young. Principled. Not made paranoid by mini fridges. Mathilde isn’t looking for a relationship. ‘I haven’t had sex in 217 days,’ she tells Arthur. ‘That’s seven months,’ he notes. ‘And four days’, she adds. She’s keeping score.

Daoud tells Arthur that he would like to cook but there are no ingredients in the apartment. No problem, he takes him to a supermarket. ‘Can I take this?’ Daoud asks (always in English). ‘Yes,’ Arthur replies. ‘And this?’ Daoud asks, holding up a vegetable. ‘Don’t keep asking,’ Arthur snaps with irritation. ‘Take what you need.’ Arthur adds a bottle of wine to the basket.

Daoud prepares a meal. However, it is at the exact moment that Arthur’s teenage daughter, Emily (Loula Bartilla Besse) comes to visit. She is surprised by Arthur’s houseguest, indeed is unused to her father having any company. She joins him for a meal. Daoud is apologetic. ‘I would do better with a mixer.’ They sit down. ‘In my country, we eat with our hands,’ Daoud explains. Arthur follows suit, Emily uses cutlery. Mealtime establishes the journey that the characters have to make. Arthur is a little further down the road than his daughter. Emily asks if Arthur can talk to her class about his experience. He would prefer not to – the videos his daughter’s classmates have made about him circulating on Instagram don’t impress him much. Reluctantly, he agrees.

Pictured: Emily (Loula Bartilla Besse), Hassan (Makita Samba) and Arthur (Benjamin Biolay) in a scene from the refugee-themed French romantic buddy film, 'Just a Couple of Days', co-written and directed by Julie Navarro. Still courtesy of BAC Films.

In spending time with Daoud, Arthur starts writing about him. This is after he goes out to a magazine event, then intervenes when he spots Daoud on the street in a fight with another Afghan. Once more, Arthur takes a hit on Daoud’s behalf. The Afghan man had taken 500 Euro from Daoud to arrange passage to England. Since then, nothing. Daoud called him, but he didn’t reply. Then he used another phone to masquerade as another asylum seeker. The man agreed to meet, but when he recognised Daoud – boom. Arthur has read media reports about the dangers of travelling to England by small boat. He wants Daoud to give up on the idea.

There are numerous set pieces. Arthur takes Daoud to a pharmacy and discovers the Afghan has scabies. Arthur could also be infected. The pair quarantine. ‘You have to wash each other’s back,’ he is told after being given numerous drugs and lotions. In the apartment, Arthur dabs timidly at Daoud’s back. Arthur goes out and gets drunk, waking to find someone has drawn a penis on his bandage. When Arthur speaks to Emily’s class, the bandage drawing, previously covered up, is revealed. Daoud tells his story, having travelled through ten countries on his way from Afghanistan to France, his journey taking 102 days. This prompts mockery from one of Emily’s classmates, whose Instagram identity Arthur outs. Emily is not pleased.

Daoud gets his appointment on the 17^th. ‘So much for just a couple of days,’ moans Arthur. During their scabies quarantine – surely the title of a progressive rock album – Arthur gives Daoud a musical education, introducing him to Led Zeppelin and the Kinks. Arthur doesn’t like French music. ‘All they do is moan about what they haven’t got,’ he observes. He is a huge fan of English music. Of one Kinks song, he observes that the track was recorded in 1966 but only released in 1985. This is because the lead singer lost his voice mid-performance, at the two minute, ten second mark.’ We hear the song and the point is made.

Pictured: Party time. Mathilde (Camille Cottin) shares a lighter moment with journalist Arthur (Benjamin Biolay) in the French refugee-themed feel-good romance 'Just a Couple of Days', co-written and directed by Julie Navarro. Still courtesy of BAC Films

Daoud celebrates his 25^th birthday. Arthur decides to throw him a party, inviting Emily and Mathilde. It takes place the day after because Mathilde has an appointment. There are presents, Emily gives Daoud an egg-timer in the shape of a yellow duck. From Arthur, Daoud receives a mixer. From Mathilde, a French recipe book. ‘You have to learn a little French,’ she apologises. It is a happy day. But then Daoud gets a place at an asylum hostel – ‘in the countryside’, he is told – and leaves Arthur’s apartment. Emily and Mathilde are disappointed.

A complaint about twenty plastic punnets left at a food distribution site – ‘they’re on crack,’ a local resident alleges – leads to an order preventing the group from distributing meals. The group votes to continue doing so, though Mathilde abstains. She’s leaving Exile Solidarity, having exhausted her empathy. When she deals with families requiring housing, we see why. A Nigerian family of five won’t be split up, even though the wife is pregnant. One home will take the pregnant woman and one child, the other the man and the two other children. He refuses. ‘We must be together, you’re not listening to me,’ the Nigerian complains, adding, ‘you’re putting me in a bad position.’ ‘No, you’re putting yourself in that position,’ Mathilde replies. There is not the temporary accommodation to meet every need. The single men in particular are neglected, as the strongest members of a vulnerable group.

The film has two dramatic sequences. The first when Exile Solidarity’s office is barricaded. Arthur crosses the police line to stop it from happening, joined by other volunteers. The second features Daoud fleeing the asylum hostel after his father passes away. Daoud is determined to get to England. Arthur, Emily and Mathilde rush to Calais to prevent him from attempting something rash.

In the end, Arthur finds a way for Daoud to say goodbye to his father without drowning – ‘in spite of the stupid laws,’ he adds. He interviews Mathilde one last time by way of finishing his article. The quartet form a family of sorts, with Arthur once more featured in the centre of action photographs. ‘Circulation is up by 50%,’ he is told.

Navarro brings to the screen a positive story about asylum seekers and the lives that they affect. The romance is dealt with chastely. Hassan the photographer reminds Arthur that he is also a refugee. He exhibits photographs of human feet – a step in the right direction, you might say. The final image is of a metal barrier on top of a squashed plastic punnet. It’s a punnet, people – not crack.

Reviewed at Leiden International Film Festival, Trianon Cinema Screen One, Friday 18 October 2024, 11:15am screening