Title – All That’s Left of You (2025)

Director – Cherien Dabis (May in the Summer)

Cast – Cherien Dabis, Saleh Bakri, Mohammad Bakri, Adam Bakri

Plot – A multi-generational epic exploring the life of a Palestinian family through the various conflicts they endure against Israel.  

“It’s the silence that’s frightening”

Review by Eddie on 02/06/2026

Premiering at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and making the Academy Awards shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s ceremony, Palestinian-American actress/filmmaker Cherien Dabis’s heartfelt and emotionally charged family drama All That’s Left of You is stunning achievement, managing to explore decades worth of political and social trauma through the eyes of one family.

Currently at the time of writing holding a 100% fresh rating on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes from both critics and audiences, You is a film of universal power as Dabis’s close to two and a half hour epic dives into longstanding conflict between the Palestinian and Israeli people from the 1940’s Nakba through to the 2020’s Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

Told across multiple generations of one family, including patriarchal father/grandfather Sharif, son/father Salim, mother/wife Hanan and determined son Noor, You never once loses your interest as you are thrown into this family’s battle to remain in touch with identity and a particular way of life when all that they know is constantly thrown in chaos due to various conflicts outside of their direct control.

Beautifully written by Dabis, who pulls triple duties here by also starring as Hanan, a strong woman determined to do what’s best for her family, You may be dealing with many situations most of us will hopefully never have to personally go through but despite the foreign nature of many of its topics and issues, there’s a constant relatability and humanity on show here that makes You a truly moving experience.

Explorations of the Palestinian and Israeli conflicts are certainly not new to the world of cinema, whether through fictional or non-fictional means but Dabis has managed to craft an impressively unique take on the subject matter here, masterfully steering us through a very large and loaded history through the eyes and world of a small everyday family, allowing us to gain insightful and considered information on almost 100 years of trauma and upheaval.

How You plays out over its substantive runtime is best left to be discovered and explored by viewers, suffice too say it’s not always easy viewing, Dabis is unafraid to bring things back to the raw level needed to give justice to this tale but it never loses sight of its beating heart, staying clear of emotional manipulation and over the top tropes to remain grounded, focussed and entirely sincere.

Brilliantly portrayed throughout by its key cast members, including a scene-stealing turn from Mohammad Bakri as an aged Sharif and Saleh Bakri as dedicated family man and teacher Salim, You might not have found a mass audience during its initial cinematic runs but its a powerful must-see drama from the 2025 class that all fans of cinema should seek out urgently.

Final Say –

A humanistic exploration of what feels like an age-old conflict, All That’s Left of You is a career moment for writer/director/star Cherien Dabis who has here crafted a hauntingly powerful drama with a passionately beating heart.

4 1/2 oranges out of 5