When the Cat's Away

Chloe works as a makeup assistant in Paris and, going away on holiday, leaves her cat with Madame Renee, one of the older women in the neighbourhood. When she comes back the cat is gone. Looking for it forces her to see her own quarter properly for the first time: the network of old women who keep cats, the men in the cafe, her neighbour Djamel and a musician who is permanently drunk. Cedric Klapisch directed. Garance Clavel plays Chloe, Zinedine Soualem plays Djamel, Renee Le Calm plays Madame Renee and Romain Duris the musician. It is set in a part of Paris that is being pulled down. There is graffiti, old buildings mid-demolition and two populations: the elderly who stayed and immigrant families. Klapisch uses the search for a cat as a pretext for mapping the district, and what is really disappearing is the neighbourhood itself. Who it is for: viewers who like city films, districts coming apart and daily life without plot. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a story. The film is one small search and it is clear from the start that the outcome hardly matters.