I Want to Go Home (1989): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1989, I Want to Go Home is a comedy film directed by Alain Resnais, running about 100 minutes.

What it’s about. Joey Wellman, an American cartoonist from Cleveland now largely forgotten at home, visits France with his partner Lena to attend an exhibition in Paris about the comic strip (bande dessinée) which features his work. He also hopes to be reconciled with his daughter Elsie who has been a student in Paris for two years, in flight from the American culture of which she sees her father as a typical example. Elsie is naively infatuated with French literature, and is trying to secure an introduction to the brilliant university professor Christian Gauthier, an expert on Flaubert but also an enthusiast for comic books. The meeting of father and daughter goes badly, but Elsie is persuaded to join Joey and Lena for the weekend at the country house of Gauthier's mother, Isabelle. During a comic-themed masquerade party, all of the characters are made to reconsider their present and past relationships.

Who’s in it. I Want to Go Home stars Adolph Green as Joey Wellman, Laura Benson as Elsie Wellman, Linda Lavin as Lena Apthrop and Gérard Depardieu as Christian Gauthier, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 4.9/10, I Want to Go Home has proved divisive with audiences.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch I Want to Go Home page.

If you liked it. Fans of I Want to Go Home tend to enjoy Forrest Gump, Parasite, Life Is Beautiful and Fight Club.