Democratic Republic of the Congo / All works
Cinema · A way to begin
Life Is Rosy
La Vie est belle
Synopsis
Kourou, a young village musician, travels up to Kinshasa on a truck, determined to live by his music, and loses his instrument on the way. In the city, no one believes he is a musician: Nvouandou, the rich owner of the orchestra he admires, takes him on as a servant. Now Nvouandou, who wants a son, has been advised by a sorcerer to take a second wife without consummating the marriage for a month, and Kourou falls in love with this young woman, Kabibi. Among odd jobs, orchestras and bars, the city lives to the rhythm of its music.
Context
Co-produced by Belgium, France and Zaire, the film was written by Mweze Ngangura, Maryse Léon and Benoît Lamy, and shot mostly in Kinshasa. Papa Wemba plays the lead, alongside Bibi Krubwa; the music is by Papa Wemba, Klody, Zaïko Langa Langa and Tshala Muana, and Pépé Kallé appears as himself. At Taormina, the two leading actresses shared the prize for best actress; the film was released in Belgium, in Canada and then in New York, and was a great success in francophone Africa.
Who it is for
A musical comedy of about eighty minutes, in French and Lingala; the orchestras of Kinshasa play a central part in it.
Prizes and reception
RFI was still presenting it in 2025 as a cult film, a pioneering work that mixes music and fiction to portray a society in transformation.