Romain Duris in The Missing Piece: A Father’s Struggle to Find His Daughter in Japan

A strong actor

Every day, Jay drives his taxi around Tokyo looking for his daughter, Lily. Separated for 9 years, he was never able to win custody. Just when he has lost hope and is preparing to return to France, Lily gets into his taxi…

For The Missing Part, his third feature film, Guillaume Senes collaborates again with the brilliant Roman Dury (L’Auberge Espagne, Le Règne animal), the protagonist of his previous film Nos Batailles, which was nominated twice for the César in 2019. .

Along with an acclaimed cast, the brilliant Judith Chemla (D’argent et de Sang) stars as Jessica, a mother in the midst of a divorce fighting for shared custody of her little boy. Finally, Lily, Jay’s daughter, is brilliantly played by young actress May Cirne-Masuk.

A story based on real events

Accompanying the Japanese release of his previous film on a trip with Romain Dury, Guillaume Senes explored the topic of childcare in Japan through expatriate screenings. From these stories of parents struggling to reunite with their children after separation, the promise of the story emerges.

After hearing feedback from this solitary confinement phenomenon, the filmmaker and actor reached out to affected people, such as Vincent Pichot, who went on hunger strike at the 2012 Tokyo Olympics in hopes of being able to see his son and daughter again. Accompanying the latter in demonstrations against child abduction, Guillaume Senes discovered that the phenomenon affects as many Japanese as foreigners and as many men as women.

Although Japan’s parliament recently passed a law establishing joint custody, Japanese police rarely intervene in family matters for cultural reasons, particularly because of their conservative stance on marriage. However, 150,000 children are ‘abducted’ by one of the two parents in Japan every year and, according to a survey, around 60% of the Japanese population wants things to change.

Talk about the difference without judgment

“I was wondering how you would “come up” with today’s audience.“- explains the film director. “The idea here is not to take the viewer into their hands or think for them, but to convey an emotion to them. If he is touched in an underground way, if he questions his feelings, then the film will only be stronger.”

The Missing Piece is a truly moving film in which different cultures collide and merge. The characters are not reduced to Manichean duality: they are complex, each with their own flaws and dark sides that make them special people.

Jessica is a strong-tempered character who struggles to fit in a country where discretion is king. This clash of cultures highlights the loneliness that she and Jay can experience, and more broadly, the same problem that expats have in Japan. In addition, Jessica reflects on what Jay may have experienced years ago, and they create a duo that is both funny and moving despite the horrific ordeal.

A fascinating treatment of the moving topical theme, The Missing Part, is now in theaters.