2.5 stars out of 5
Note to self: Just because a movie’s in French and is playing at an art theater doesn’t automatically mean it’s good. In this case, I must admit I didn’t do much advance research. A film starring Léa Seydoux? What she say, I do! Seydoux first caught my eye in The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014, and retroactively caught every other part of my body when I finally saw Blue Is the Warmest Colour. So I bought a ticket to France tout de suite.
Seydoux plays a celebrity journalist in France named… France. Everyone wants a selfie with her! And Emmanuel Macron is sort of in the movie! This is, how you say, le satire. And as we either learned or didn’t learn from Don’t Look Up, satire ain’t easy. You either need to lampoon a topic that hasn’t been done to death before, or else you better bring a unique perspective. France fails on both counts.
France the character is more interested in presenting herself than in presenting the news or her interview subjects. She “directs” camera angles and actions while reporting in the field, to tell the story as she sees fit. The media being staged was covered pretty well by Broadcast News back in 1987. And yes, France is cynical, but didn’t Network already take a delightfully dark look at the news media in 1976?
I guess the twist here is that France has an ethical awakening. She then steps away from television and becomes charitable so, they decide she’s mad! And thus is sent to fancy rehab in the Alps. Next there’s a scandalous report about her. But her savvy assistant knows that everybody loves a comeback and besides, the public has a very small attention span. Along the line, we learn that being phony is easier than being real, and dishing it out is easier than taking it. Not too original. C’est la vie!
Jack Silbert, curator