FRENCH MINISTER, THE

 

THE PLOT THUS FAR

Doors slam and papers fly in this off-the-wall comedy about French politics directed by master filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier (The Princess of Montpensier). Tavernier’s blistering assault – based on the award-winning graphic novel by Abel Lanzac, a former government speech writer – zeroes in on fictional Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexandre Taillard de Vorms (a tour-de-force comic performance by Thierry Lhermitte). A human whirlwind and a man confident in France’s importance on the world stage, de Vorms takes on American neo-cons, corrupt Russians and the opportunistic Chinese while his hapless speech writer (Raphael Personnaz) endures the eccentricities of his megalomaniacal boss and his sycophantic entourage. In the vein of recent political comedies such as In the Loop, The French Minister is a hilarious send-up of diplomacy and international politics with rapid-fire dialogue and a brilliant ensemble cast.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“The French Minister” is a satire about current political relations among most first world powers. The issue of Iraq keeps getting batted back and forth, but the issue at hand remains the battling of egos. Contradiction and repetition inform the humor, as they make up the majority of the movie. It’s enough to make you want to pull your hair out, but you find yourself enjoying the film’s mocking nature. Though, I have to say that the film plays very unfavorably to Americans. We’re not all neo-cons.

So, the French are trying to ape Iannucci now? Most of this film felt like a lesser episode of “Veep” or “In the Loop”. Still, it was an entertaining take on politics from the French. For an area that seemed beneath them outside of period pictures, Tavernier and company handle themselves well. I wouldn’t recommend the film to first time viewers of French Cinema.

The DVD comes with a featurette and a trailer as the special features. The A/V Quality is typical for a standard definition world cinema piece. The transfer has small bits of noise, but that’s typical. The same goes for the Dolby 5.1 Surround track. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.

RELEASE DATE: 07/29/2014