Rue Mandar

Take a traditional Jewish funeral whose rituals no one can quite recall. Mix in a Yiddishkeit setting in a predominantly Sephardic Jewish community. Add one of the most beautiful cities in the world as your location, and top it off with a terrific ensemble cast. What you get in the assured hands of director Idit Cebula, is the charmingly poignant French film Rue Mandar. For elder brother Charles, sister Rosemonde (Emmanuelle Devos) and youngest sibling Emma, their widowed mother’s funeral marks the end of an era. Brought together after years of separation, they are soon squabbling about religious tradition, each other, and what to do with their parents’ apartment at 13 rue Mandar. Rue Mandar reminds us that the messy, sometimes humorous, and often bittersweet business of death can lead to new beginnings.