'' Declaration of War '' ( ) is a 2011 French film directed by Valérie Donzelli , and written by and starring Donzelli and Jérémie Elkaïm ; it is based on actual events in their lives together , when they were a young couple caring for their dangerously ill son . It was released on the 31 August 2011 and received very positive reviews ; Allociné , a review aggregation website gave it an average of 4.3 stars out of five . '' Le Monde '' gave it a full five stars , saying " Against cancer , an undoubtable force of happiness " . The film was selected as the French entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards , but it did not make the final shortlist
84th Academy Awards
84th Academy Awards
Declaration of War (film)