All to Play For

“All to Play For” is a mostly by-the-book family drama that’s executed well. Director and co-writer Delphine Deloget‘s story explores the struggle faced by single working parents and a system that seems to be against them at every turn. Deloget’s film makes fair points on both sides of a complicated issue, even if the narrative itself isn’t complex. Sylvie (Virginie Efira) is a single mom to her two children, Sofiane (Alexis Tonetti) and Jean-Jacques (Félix Lefebvre). She works late nights to make ends meet, and often leaves her sons alone at home while she does what she can to make money. One evening, Sofiane burns himself while trying to make a snack, and the incident is reported to the authorities. In the blink of an eye, child welfare agents place the boy in foster care, ripping him away from his loving (if imperfect) home life. Sylvie must rely on the legal system to overcome what feels like an insurmountable amount of bureaucratic red tape to prove she is not an unfit mother before she can get her little boy back in her arms. It’s a universal story about family that’s relatable even if you aren’t a working mom. Sylvie is a sympathetic character despite the fact that she’s very self-centered and seems to care more about her rotating door of boyfriends, throwing drunken parties, and getting in her daytime naps than actually parenting her two sons. She keeps screwing things up, but she’s a loving mother who would do anything for her boys. Deloget captures the way society looks down on someone who has been deemed an unfit mother, and it’s especially heart-wrenching to watch as Sylvie has to beg her friends and family to write letters of support so she can get Sofiane back. Some treat her with kindness and others, scorn and shame, but she’s a single mother who is genuinely trying to do better and is making a real effort to change. Not only is the system stacked against Sylvie, but Sofiane suffers as well. When the judge puts him in a foster home for six months while his mom is required to enroll in group therapy and parenting classes, Sofiane has a screaming meltdown. It’s tragic to watch, especially because it’s evident what sounds like something that’s in the best interest of the child on paper is in reality something that is horribly detrimental to the entire family unit. Even worse, Sofiane is diagnosed as “emotionally unstable” and the system wants to pump him full of drugs because he’s a danger to himself and others. It’s ridiculous to force him to take Ritalin as it obviously is not what’s best for the child. The film presents different perspectives of all involved, from the mother, the legal system, child welfare agents, and the most tragic, the eyes of her child. There’s a slightly cynical tone that expresses how policies can make us lose sight of our humanity. There’s a self-fulfilling prophecy at play here that has the potential to destroy families: put a child under extreme stress, over-medicate them, and they eventually will crack. It’s a frustrating cycle that is all too real. “All to Play For” doesn’t explore anything that new or different than similar films, but a good story and excellent performances make this a solid family drama.

So here's a question. Imagine you live in a flat and one of your fellow residents has a job that works late into the evening whilst her two sons are at home on their own. "Jean-Jacques" (Félix Lefebvre) is the older and "Sofiane" (Alex Tonetti) is the younger with a penchant for chips/fries at 3am. When he has an incident with the hot oil that necessitates his brother taking him, in a shopping trolley, to hospital and the authorities decide maybe he is better in care what would you think? Never mind the issues around responsible parenting. What about the risks to the other folks living there who might well wake up amidst the ruins of their possessions, if they wake up at all? Returning mother "Sylvie" (Virginie Efira) couldn't care less about us, indeed as this drama unfolds it appears that she couldn't really care much for anyone as her struggles to get her young "Froggy" back become all consuming. I couldn't help but wonder that, given her circumstances, maybe the lad was in a better place and we were all just that extra bit safer at night! That distraction rather pointed out to me just how one-dimensional this story was. We are clearly being encouraged to feel sorry for "Sylvie" and to take against a system this is portrayed as thoroughly unsympathetic, understaffed, and not even vaguely inclined to the welfare of the young "Sofiane". I hate feeling manipulated by a film and so despite a really strong and passionate effort from Efira, an equally solid and perceptive one from Arieh Worthalter as the estranged dad "Hervé" and from Lefebvre as the "other" son, I just thought the whole thing did an outrageous disservice to professional people trying their best to juggle plates whilst underfunded, under-resourced and under-acknowledged. Certainly, it does shine quite a light on the visceral nature of the relationship between mother and younger son, but it relies far too heavily on that innateness within the audience and doesn't really build any of the characters beyond the hysterical and reactionary to earn our respect. There are way better films out there dealing more fully with this scenario and the fanciful denouement here rather summed up the whole film.