Dans une cité de banlieue parisienne, Pat et Madjid tentent de survivre et sombrent, comme tant d'autres, dans la petite délinquance. Malika, la mère de Madjid, élève seule sa nombreuse famille et se charge également du petit garçon de sa voisine, Josette, une jeune femme divorcée sur le point de perdre son travail. Madjid est attiré par la sœur de Pat, Chantal mais elle le repousse en lui reprochant sa mauvaise conduite… Un film de Mehdi Charef, France, 1984, 1h50 min Avec Kader Boukhanef, Rémi Martin, Laure Duthilleul







INS 18 p.15 / D'après le roman Le thé au harem d'Archi Ahmed de Mehdi Charef – CinémAction / Hommes & Migrations n°56, juillet 1990 – Cinémas métis. / CNHI



Sortie en salle : 01/05/1985

Diffusion TV : 01/03/2000 (FR3)





Distinctions : César 1986 – Première oeuvre 

Cannes 1985 – Un certain regard

Prix Jean Vigo 1985

Pessac 1995

Douarnenez 1996  



<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mSNYRch1rNQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The friendship between Madjid and Pat, one of them is North African, the other is not. They are rejected by a civilization in which they don’t fit in, there is no school where they can adapt. They live off tricks and thefts. It’s a day-to-day story of a suburb and its social housings where we live poorly, and portraits of teenagers whose testimonies are so honest they go straight to the heart. Madjid is pursued by his mother, the only generous woman, who pushes him to find a job but at the same time doesn’t want him to become a french citizen to do so. Torn between these contradictions, the young man goes to the national employment agency, which comes up with all sorts of excuses not to hire him. Faced with violence, including the sexual kind, hatred sets up. When Madjid sees Pat’s sister prostituting herself, it’s the last straw. They steal a car and go to the beach. The lack of bearings, of a father, the indifference to the ghetto, leave the young people alone in facing police repression. Is it the best way? Only friendship brings a bit of kindness when he is arrested : Pat comes in, he was with him.



<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mSNYRch1rNQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>