Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Bertrand Tavernier
Stars: Thierry Lhermitte, Raphael Personnaz, Niels Arestrup, Jane Birkin, Bruno Rafaelli, Julie Gayet, Anais Demoustier, Thomas Chabrol, Alix Poisson, Thierry Fremont, Marie Brunel.
Oui, Ministre?
The French Minister (aka Quai d’Orsay) is supposedly a political farce set behind closed doors and within the halls of power of the French government. The central character here is Alexandre Taillard de Worms, the mercurial, frenetic but self absorbed and blustering foreign minister (Thierry Lhermitte) who is a whirlwind of energy. His arrival in preceded by loud footsteps, slamming doors and a flurry of papers as he enters and leaves a room. He hires Arthur (Raphael Personnaz), an anxious but idealistic new graduate from the elite National School of Administration, to be a speechwriter on his team. As Arthur accompanies the minister to high level meetings he observes at first hand the complex machinations of the bureaucracy at work.
A new crisis has erupted as American forces threaten to invade the fictitious country of Ludmenistan. The crisis requires the minister’s attention, and he struts about self-importantly hoping to address the United Nations and ensure his role on the world stage. Meanwhile Arthur and the frustrated staff try to keep up with the rapidly changing agenda. The minister discards most of what Arthur writes, demanding endless and often pointless rewrites.
Unfortunately, this French political farce lacks the sharp observations and biting satire of British tv shows like the classic Yes Minister, which featured the hapless Jim Hacker and the intrigues of the manipulative Sir Humphrey Appleby, or even The Thick Of It and its feature length spin off In The Loop, which starred Peter Capaldi (the latest incarnation of the time travelling Doctor Who) as a foul mouthed and Machiavellian spin doctor.
The film has been adapted from an autobiographical graphic novel that was written by Antonin Baudry, a former political insider, which should have given the material a sense of gravitas and authenticity and lots of insights into the political process itself. Instead, this adaptation from first time writers Christophe Blain and Abel Lanzac lacks humour and political insight. Normally French comedies are brisk, sharp and very funny, but The French Minister failed to click. Or maybe it was something of a cultural or language thing, but I didn’t find this farce particularly funny at all! There are a lot of subplots woven throughout the film that also tend to slow down the pace.
The director is veteran Bertrand Tavernier, who is better known for his dramas (Round Midnight, etc) and period pieces (D’Artagnan’s Daughter, etc). This is Tavernier’s first attempt as a comedy, and he is the wrong director for a farce that required a lighter touch. Tavernier belabours the running gag, which wasn’t particularly funny the first time, and the verbal jousting sometimes seems forced. And the thing moves at a leaden pace despite the minister’s frantic energy. Jerome Almera’s hand held camera often struggles to keep pace with the minister as he storms through the halls of power wreaking havoc and confusion in his wake.
Lhermitte brings plenty of energy to his manic performance as the self-important motor mouthed minister who worries over the quality of the highlighters he uses to mark speeches as he constantly harries his staff over the most minute details. Niels Arestrup (from A Prisoner, You Will Be My Son, etc) normally has an intense and powerful presence, but here he is cast largely against type in a more passive and weary role as Maupas, the minister’s quietly spoken, long suffering chief of staff. But ultimately The French Minister is mainly about Arthur’s eye-opening journey, and Personnaz has a fresh faced appeal and looks like a cross between Matt Bomer and Adam Scott.
But overall The French Minister is a disappointingly flat comedy that lacks bite.
★☆
