Let My People Go! is a 2011 film directed by Mikael Buch. It premiered at the 2011 Montreal World Film Festival and was released in December 2011 in France. It was released in the United States in 2013 by Zeitgeist Films and grossed $18,529 domestically.
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Synopsis
Ruben is a French-Jewish gay mailman who lives in fairytale Finland (where he got his MA in "Comparative Sauna Cultures") with his gorgeous Nordic boyfriend, Teemu. Just before Passover, a series of mishaps and a lovers' quarrel exile the heartbroken Ruben back to Paris and his zany family.
Main cast
Nicolas Maury as Ruben
Carmen Maura as Rachel
Jean-François Stévenin as Nathan
Amira Casar as Irène
Clément Sibony as Samuel
Jarkko Niemi as Teemu
Jean-Luc Bideau as Maurice
Didier Flamand as André
Kari Väänänen as Monsieur Tilikainen
Olavi Uusivirta as Fredrik
Aurore Clément as Françoise
Michaël Abiteboul as Ézechiel
Charlie Dupont as Hervé
Awards
2012: Philadelphia QFest: Best Comedic Film
2012: Asheville QFest: Best Cinematography
Reception
"A fairy-tale romance whose title acknowledges both a saturation in and longing to be free of Jewish cultural baggage, Mikael Buch's Let My People Go! cross-breeds cultures that are rarely paired onscreen. International box-office prospects are fair in urban arthouses, where the presence of Almodóvar collaborator Carmen Maura may tip moviegoers off to the pop-inflected, comic semi-scandals in store."
-John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter