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- 2025
- Kino Lorber
- 1 h 33 m
- 2025
- Kino Lorber
- 1 h 33 m
Summary As he pedals through the streets of Paris to deliver meals, Souleymane (Abou Sangare) repeats his story. In two days, he has to go through his asylum application interview, the key to obtaining papers. But Souleymane is not ready.
Directed By: Boris Lojkine
Written By: Boris Lojkine, Delphine Agut
- 2025
- Kino Lorber
- 1 h 33 m
- 2025
- Kino Lorber
- 1 h 33 m
Souleymane's Story
7.5
Where to Watch
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Summary As he pedals through the streets of Paris to deliver meals, Souleymane (Abou Sangare) repeats his story. In two days, he has to go through his asylum application interview, the key to obtaining papers. But Souleymane is not ready.
Directed By: Boris Lojkine
Written By: Boris Lojkine, Delphine Agut
Where to Watch
Coming Soon
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 16 Critic Reviews
83
100% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 16 Critic Reviews
83
100% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Aug 7, 2025
Souleymane’s Story immerses us in an unrepresented world of African migrants in France with a ticking clock urgency that puts most thrillers to shame.
Jul 31, 2025
Boris Lojkine’s Souleymane’s Story, an affecting film about struggle set over two days in Paris, is the rare character study that does not only build empathy with its hero’s pain but channels its sensation.
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 14 User Ratings
7.5
93% Positive
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
7% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 14 User Ratings
7.5
93% Positive
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
7% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Aug 4, 2025
Souleyman's story is a deeply moving and powerful film. What struck me the most is how it manages to be both emotionally resonant and gripping, without ever falling into sentimentality or pity. It’s structured almost like a thriller—the pacing is tight, and from the first scene to the last, it never lets go of the **** what really sets it apart is its emotional honesty. The film doesn’t manipulate you or play on your feelings. Instead, it invites you to engage with the story on a human and thoughtful level. It shows a chapter of someone’s life to help you see and understand. This is the kind of cinema that stays with you. It’s balanced, intelligent, and incredibly compelling. For me, it’s truly great filmmaking.
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Sep 15, 2025
An intense immersion in the life of a immigrant in the hospitality of France. There are multiple characters that gravitate around the main protagonist, all managing to be engaging and highly **** Souleymane, Abou Sangare showcases a perfect theatrical performance. The filmmaking also is highly effective, as we discover Paris in Souleymane's eyes, through his constant fight to survive in decence. The rhythm is top notch just as the pace and the gorgeous progression to the calmest finale.Very powerful, very touching and evoking a large palette of emotions with a mondblowing precision. This movie also takes its immense energy in Sangare's actual life, that must be taken in account. A must-see with well-deserved awards.
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Oct 17, 2025
Needless to say, Souleymane’s Story is not an easy watch. It’s a tough, unsparing and often heartbreaking look at life for the migrants who make the online world tick, and a jolt for those of us who use it unthinkingly.
Oct 15, 2025
This is a nervy study of how poverty wears people down, eroded by uncertainty and the grinding effort to stay afloat.
May 25, 2024
Non-professional Sangare is magnetic throughout, whether on the saddle or an interview hot seat.
Aug 15, 2025
Souleymane’s Story presents its hero’s life as an open-air prison. Scrupulously researched by Lojkine and co-writer Delphine Agut, it’s brutally frank about the predatory practices of some of Souleymane’s fellow West Africans.
Jul 31, 2025
Sometimes Souleymane feels like he’s sprinting through a race with no finish line, and sometimes he’s running into an unmovable brick wall. The film exists in the space between those opposing outcomes, and its contradictions become its greatest strength as it depicts the endless exhaustion of navigating a system that doesn’t care about you nearly as much as it claims to.
Sep 10, 2025
A visceral, maximally stressful peek into two days in the life of an asylum seeker and Uber Eats courier.
Report
Sep 14, 2025
Are there times when telling the truth is not necessarily the wisest course to follow in getting what you want? Some might say, somewhat self-righteously, never. However, for those faced with potentially problematic circumstances, that might not be the case. Such is the conundrum faced by Guinean immigrant Souleymane Sangaré (Abou Sangare), who relocates to France to escape the many hardships in his African homeland. He hopes to secure a permanent new home for himself by seeking asylum from Guinean political persecution, a designation that would earn him the protections of French authorities. There’s just one problem with his story: It’s not true. That’s not to suggest that he’s not fleeing many ordeals back home, but there’s no guarantee that they would qualify him to stay in France, no matter how problematic they might be. Hence the asylum ruse, a plan he seeks to perpetrate with the aid of Barry (Alpha Oumar Sow), an expensive (some would say extortionist) social worker/asylum broker playing on (and profiting from) Souleymane’s fears and desperation. Barry supplies his client (like many others with whom he “does business”) with phony asylum documents and an allegedly convincing personal story that he can tell to French authorities during an official interview with a government case worker (Nina Meurisse) to determine his eligibility. While preparing for his meeting with officials, Souleymane works (illegally) as a food delivery courier with the assistance of a shady associate, Emmanuel (Emmanuel Yovanie), who “rents” him fraudulent work credentials that allow him to earn money off the books, a scenario fraught with complications as he bicycles through the streets of Paris. Through this experience, viewers witness the many challenges that immigrants/asylum seekers face when trying to land a new home for themselves far away from their roots. These include numerous bureaucratic nightmares, unbridled prejudice, ubiquitous swindlers, and the frustration of being unable to do virtually anything in addressing difficulties back home, such as handling family health matters and coping with separation from loved ones like Souleymane’s fiancée (Keita Dalo). Writer-director Boris Lojkine’s latest feature outing tells an involving dramatic tale that captured three top honors at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, including the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize, the Un Certain Regard Best Actor Award (Sangare) and the FIPRESCI Prize, among numerous other honors and nominations at other events and awards competitions. This is made possible in large part by the picture’s fine performances, as well as its atmospheric cinematography and skillful film editing, both of which show off sides of the City of Lights not often seen. There’s also a strong degree of authenticity pervading the narrative, bringing an insightful and profound level of credibility to the story. However, these assets aside, there are times when the film focuses a little too much on the setup preparation for the main event (the interview), along with a sometimes-excessive reliance on depictions of Souleymane’s workaday life, while sacrificing greater depth into the protagonist’s character development and back story. More emphasis in these key areas undoubtedly would have added more substance to the finished product, not only giving viewers a more complete picture of its lead, but also likely generating a deeper sense of empathy for his situation. As it stands now, “Souleymane’s Story” is certainly a solid offering, but, with some tweaking in these other regards, it could have elevated this release to the truly outstanding level that it might have otherwise attained.
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Production Company
- Unité
- Canal+
- Ciné+
- Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC)
- Fonds Images de la Diversité
- Agence Nationale pr Cohésion des Territoires
- Indéfilms 12
- Sofica La Banque Postale Image 17
- SofiTVciné 11
- Société des Producteurs de Cinéma et de Télévision (Procirep)
- Agence Nationale de Gestion des Oeuvres Audiovisuelles (ANGOA)
Release Date Aug 1, 2025
Duration 1 h 33 m
Genres
Awards
César Awards, France
• 4 Wins & 8 Nominations
Lumiere Awards, France
• 1 Win & 5 Nominations
Cannes Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
