CODA review – joyous love letter to the Deaf community

Hollywood does not have a great track record when it comes to remakes – specifically, French ones. But CODA, based on the 2014 French family dramedy La Famille Bélier, is different. The idea is the same – a teenage girl who is the only hearing family member, helping her Deaf parents and brother with their fishing business, finds a passion for singing – but writer-director Sian Heder pushes the premise even further here, with wit, authenticity, and earnest affection amounting to glorious results.

On the surface, the trappings of any crowd-pleasing teen story seem to dominate, but it’s in the singular details, the precise care given to this one family, that CODA cements itself as a wholly original entry widening the canon with infectious warmth.

The film is led by Emilia Jones as Ruby in an effervescent performance, switching between dialogue and ASL with equal empathy and humour. Heder makes the shrewd decision to cast Deaf actors in the roles of Ruby’s parents and brother – Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur lighting up the screen as Frank and Jackie with their deeply felt chemistry, Daniel Durant as thoughtful brother Leo. Considering 40% of the film’s script is written in ASL, this dedication is major.

What ensues is a coming-of-ager with great compassion, a portrait of a family with a huge heart. It helps, too, that Jones blooms even more when she sings: choir practice alongside her designated duet partner Miles (Sing Street’s loveable star Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) and her flamboyant tutor Bernardo Villalobos (Eugenio Derbez) resurrect the spirit of High School Musical and Glee while making it all feel – just about – believable.

But it’s always the moments shared between the family members, the pride and care flowing between them, that shine the brightest: a silent but immensely energised argument about swiping through Tinder at the dinner table; an awkward sex education talk in which Frank tells Miles to “put a helmet on that soldier”; an a cappella concert under the stars, performed by Ruby for Frank’s eyes only.

Some might squirm at the sincerity of CODA, a film that believes in its characters so much, and gives them all the tools – knowing looks, perfect songs, easy romances – to take the world by storm against all odds. But the magic here is unique: as viewers we’ve so often been fed the same lines, in the same intonation, asking you to feel for new characters in a different way. CODA rips up the rule book, and widens the net. At first it might seem familiar (and even if it does, this kind of vibrant optimism is always a wonderful thing to experience), but by spotlighting the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community, Sian Heder is finally bridging the gap and allowing the world to feel a little bigger. What a joy to be invited in.

CODA was screened as part of the Sundance Film Festival 2021. It is released on Apple TV+ on 13 August.