“Ash and Ember” is a poetic and political (not a militant) film, able to reveal with apparent simplicity (but without simplifying the issue at hand) a civic discourse. There are no clichés about the difficult “black people” from suburban areas. There is no exoticism here. The film grants us access into Les Mureaux, a city where few venture to go unless they live there, and to its inhabitants. Director Manon Ott is a mirror that very modestly reflects - in black and white - the light in all those she has chosen to film and thanks to her we will meet people who question, each in their own way, their place in the society they live in, in our common society.
Without overstating or emphasizing the narrative, without letting the film become intimate or slip into triteness, taking as much time as necessary, Manon Ott paints with every character a portrait of revolt, of the past and present working class. (Vanina Vignal)