With Open Arms

With Open Arms (À bras ouverts, 2017) is Philippe de Chauveron's French comedy, free to watch online on iFILM. A bohemian writer goes on live TV and declares that France should throw its doors open to everyone in need. The next morning a Roma family is parked outside his villa, ready to take him at his word.

Jean-Étienne Fougerole has just published a novel preaching compassion for migrants when a debate rival calls his bluff: practice what you write. Backing out would wreck his image, so he doesn't. His tidy life in a posh Paris suburb collapses fast. The guests swim in his pool, play cards in his salon, uncork his vintage wine, and throw concerts in the yard. Christian Clavier plays the smooth intellectual whose lovely principles buckle on contact with reality, while Ary Abittan's brash, cheerful Babik makes himself more at home than the owner.

De Chauveron, who made Serial (Bad) Weddings, takes another loud swing at the hypocrisy of the comfortable class. The jokes live in the gap between what a liberal says and what he'll actually do. It suits fans of broad farce and French social comedy. Stream With Open Arms online on iFILM.