In 1988, Johnny Leclerc, the son of a Norman mother and an Alsatian father, lives in a suburban housing estate with his friends. He behaves like a Muslim, observes Ramadan and wears a djelaba. He's even convinced that his name is Abdelbachir and that he was born in a small village in the bled. When his friend Yacine gets into trouble with a local kaid and decides to return to Algeria for the vacations, he smuggles himself into the Sabri family's luggage to fulfill his dream and finally get to know his "roots". As soon as he arrived on the Algerian coast, Johnny felt right at home. But Yacine is opposed to his father, who wants to arrange his marriage.
Acting
Julien Courbey commits fully to Johnny's delightful cringe.
Costume
That djelaba game is genuinely impeccable.
Director
Djamel Bensalah
Julien Courbey
Johnny Leclerc
Sid Ahmed Agoumi
Mohamed Sabri
David Saracino
Yacine Sabri
Karina Testa
Nadia
Marilou Berry
Nadège
Amina Annabi
Relah Sabri
Olivier Baroux
Le vacancier suisse
Éric Judor
Les commerçants
Ramzy Bedia
Les commerçants
Aziz Degga
Un Tonton
Omar Sy
le génie de la lampe
Salah Eddine Benmoussa
Le Hajj
Atmen Kelif
Naber, un cousin du désert
Élie Semoun
Le maître d'hôtel
Frankie Pain
la mère de Johnny
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This film captures a specific 2000s French banlieue moment when Beur identity (French-born North African) was exploding in pop culture, for better and worse.
Director Djamel Bensalah was a key figure in the 'comédie de banlieue' wave that made stars of Jamel Debbouze and others—this is basically his gentler, less cynical cousin to those films.
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