''All Cats Are Grey'' () is a 2014 Belgian

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Savina Dellicour Savina Dellicour is a Belgian film director and screenwriter. She made her feature-length debut in 2014 with '' All Cats Are Grey'', which premiered at the 32nd Turin Film Festival. The film received nine nominations at the 6th Magritte Awards, in ...

and co-written by Dellicour and Matthieu de Braconier. ''All Cats Are Grey'' had its world premiere at the 32nd Turin Film Festival. It also screened as a special presentation during the 2015 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where it won Best International Film. Critical response was generally strong and the film received nine nominations at the

6th Magritte Awards The 6th Magritte Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie André Delvaux, honored the best 2015 in film, films of 2015 in Belgium and took place on February 6, 2016, at the Square – Brussels Meeting Centre, Square in the historic site of Mont ...

, including

Best Film The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

and

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * As ...

for Dellicour.

Plot

Dorothy ( Manon Capelle) is a 15-year-old girl who was raised in a well-off residential neighbourhood of Brussels. She does not feel comfortable with her daily life, partly because of the detached relationship with her mother ( Anne Coesens). Dorothy finds music a pleasant form of escape and passes her days listening to

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

and new music artists. By chance, she meets Paul (

Bouli Lanners Philippe "Bouli" Lanners (born 20 May 1965) is a Belgian actor, author and film director. His film '' The Giants'' was nominated for twelve Magritte Awards, winning five, including Best Film and Best Director. Biography Lanners was born on 2 ...

), a 43-year-old man who works as a detective and leads a solitary existence after his wife's death. Dorothy asks him for help in the search for her biological father and Paul agrees. A strong connection arises between them, but Dorothy doest not know that he is actually her biological father. Over the years, away from Dorothy, Paul has always lived with this secret. Now back in Brussels he has been watching her from afar, without ever daring to approach her.

Cast

* Manon Capelle as Dorothy *

as Paul * Anne Coesens as Christine * Aisleen McLafferty *

Astrid Whettnall Astrid Jadot (née Ullens de Schooten Whettnall, known as Astrid Whettnall; born 17 March 1971) is a Belgian stage and film actress. She studied at the Kleine Academy in Brussels and began working in theatre. Her film credits include ''Capital'' ...

* Vincent Lecuyer

Critical reception

Upon its screening at the

Rome Film Festival International Rome Film Fest is a film festival that takes place in Rome during the month of October. The name in Italian is Festa del Cinema di Roma. From 2022, the festival was officially recognized as a competitive festival by the Internation ...

, ''All Cats Are Grey'' was positively received with a

standing ovation A standing ovation is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding, often after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim. Standing ovations are considered to be a special honor. Often they are ...

from the audience. On the review aggregator Cinebel, the film has received a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 8.2 out of 10, based on 11 critics. Michaël Degré from '' L'Avenir'' felt that the film offers a smart reflection about fatherhood and family. Fernand Denis of ''

La Libre Belgique ''La Libre Belgique'' (; ), currently sold under the name ''La Libre'', is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Together with ''Le Soir'', it is one of the most popular Francophone newspapers in both Brussels and Wallonia. ''La Libre'' was ...

'' called Dellicour's direction a "polished work" which displays a "sense of observation and a tone that mixes harmoniously humor and existential angst". He also regarded Lanners' acting as one of his finest performances. Hugues Dayez from

RTBF The ("Belgian Radio-television of the French Community"), shortened to RTBF (branded as rtbf.be), is a public broadcasting, public service broadcaster for the French Community of Belgium, French-speaking Community of Belgium. Its counterpart i ...

commented that Dellicour builds a real suspense drama in which she describes with "great accuracy" the social impact of two distant worlds: the modest and simple world of Paul, and the austere and hypocritical one of Christine. Louis Danvers from ''

Le Vif ''Le Vif/L'Express'' is a weekly news magazine published in Brussels, Belgium. It has been in circulation since 1983. History and profile The magazine was established under the name of ''Le Vif'' in 1983. Its name was changed to ''Le Vif/L'Expre ...

'' wrote that the young Manon Capelle and Bouli Lanners form a "very convincing couple". He praised Dellicour's direction and Thomas Buelens' cinematography. The

Canadian Film Institute The Canadian Film Institute (CFI) () involves Canada in the film production, study, appreciation process of film/moving images for cultural and educational purposes. The Canadian Film Institute organizes ongoing public film programming and artist ...

described the film as "superbly written", filled with unexpected discoveries for characters and audience alike, and called Manon Capelle a revelation.

Accolades

References

External links

* *{{IMDb title, 3965866 2014 films Belgian coming-of-age drama films Belgian independent films Films about dysfunctional families Films set in Brussels Films shot in Brussels Magritte Award winning films 2010s coming-of-age drama films 2014 independent films 2014 directorial debut films 2014 drama films 2010s French-language films French-language Belgian films French-language independent films 2010s Belgian films French-language drama films