All is well in the village of Paimpont, Brittany, where harmony reigns among the locals, a gallery of humorously stereotypical French people.

Meet Joëlle (director Julie Delpy), the progressive schoolteacher inclined to lecture people; her best friend, the often inebriated Anne (Sandrine Kiberlain, Hear Me Out - SFFF 2022, 9-Months Stretch - SFFF 2014), who owns the town's grocery store with her husband (Mathieu Demy); Hervé (Laurent Laffitte, Everybody Loves Jeanne - SFFF 2023, Papa ou Maman - SFFF 2016), a plumber from Alsace who's even more Breton than the locals; Yves (Albert Delpy, the director's own father), an old farmer full of wisdom…

In a show of solidarity, the city council enthusiastically voted to host a family of Ukrainian refugees, and Paimpont is getting ready to welcome them. But the refugees, it turns out, aren't Ukrainian after all. They are Syrian! And some of the folks in this charming village aren't very pleased with the change. When the Fayad family arrive, they are faced with graffiti calling them barbarians. Clearly, some townspeople only want a certain kind of refugee. So, when all is said and done, who are the barbarians?

Director and actress Julie Delpy is mostly known in the U.S. for Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise trilogy co-starring Ethan Hawke. She also directed a TV show currently on Netflix, On the Verge. With Meet the Barbarians, Delpy is back in France with a wildly funny, tongue-in-cheek comedy about what separates us, but more importantly what brings us together (including food, but not only).