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Respected French actor Michel Piccoli directed and co-wrote this allegorical drama. A (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) is a veteran political activist in an unnamed country with a long history of human rights abuses. When the nation's dictatorial government is overthrown and a new democratic leadership comes into power, A's wife Sylvie (Dominique Blanc), who was born in France, travels to Paris to work on an article about the nation's new political freedoms. But A soon discovers that the changes have not been as dramatic as he imagined after Sylvie is told she will not be allowed back into the country. A and his daughter Joyce (Jade Fortineau) wait out Sylvie's immigration problem at his family's seaside vacation home, but while he and his friends have long been subject to political harassment, A discovers that the new regime's tactics have a far more dangerous undertow, with executions of radicals suddenly becoming commonplace. La Plage Noir was screened in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.