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L'Exercice de l'État

The Minister

France/Belgium 2011
produced by
Denis Freyd, André Bouvard (executive) for Archipel 35, les Films du Fleuve, France 3, RTBF, Belgacom
directed by Pierre Schoeller
starring Olivier Gourmet, Michel Blanc, Zabou Breitman, Laurent Stocker, Sylvain Deblé, Didier Bezace, Jacques Boudet, Francois Chattot, Gaetan Vassart, Arly Jover, Eric Naggar, Anne Azoulay, Abdelhafid Metalsi, Christian Vautrin, Francois Vincentelli, Stéphan Wojtowicz, Ludovic Jevelot, Marc-Olivier Fogiel, Brigitte Lo Cicero, Jade Phan-Gia
written by Pierre Schoeller, music by Philippe Schoeller

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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Bertrand Saint Jean (Olivier Gourmet), the French minister of transport, is the born politician: He has an immense talent as a troubleshooter, knows how to spin occuring problems his way, he is political new blood not yet ground up by the hereditary political system and yet his convictions are not strong enough to not become a turncoat time and again, and he is likeable enough to be attractive to the voters without having to become a populist. His talent is greatly needed in times when an accident of a schoolbus which is turned into a national tragedy by the media needs a representative to show sympathy. However, when he has to change sides when it comes to the privatisation of railway stations and goes against the espress wishes of his secretary and best friend Gilles (Michel Blanc) who doesn't want to privatize, which causes Gilles to announce his resignation, that causes a personal crisis - and suddenly he realizes he doesn't have any friends. This in turn causes a meltdown at the home of his new chauffeur Kuypers (Sylvain Deblé), a former longterm unemployed who only got the job through some short-termed employment program.

Suddenly, his career seems to break away from the minister ... until he has a car accident on a road under construction that leads to Kuypers' death - and a badly injured Saint Jean rises like a phoenix from the ashes, for a while he is treated like an actual saint ... and he is given a new, better ministry, the ministry of labour, who needs a troubleshooter like him. He is overjoyed, because this way Gilles does no longer have to resign, since someone else will handle the privatisation of the railway stations. But the prime minister (Eric Naggar) doesn't want Gilles on Saint Jean's new team ...

 

In a way, L'Exercice de l'État is a fascinating insight into the inner workings of politics and of power as such, which was exactly what the director wanted to express - and yet, the film falls short of its premise: For a film about politics, L'Exercice de l'État falls disappointingly short of being a political film, and the film fails to have an emotional conflict as well. Sure, the film is about the relationship of two men, the minister and Gilles, but one can't help but not feel anything about the very turning point in their friendship - after all, does anyone (apart from those directly involved of course) have any real feelings about the privatisation of French railway stations? Plus, for a film about politics, the film is surprisingly irony-free - which again was intended by the writer/director Pierre Schoeller, but seeing the film you can't help but feel you are in an episode of Yes Minister ... without the humour and Sir Humphrey, which means the film is seriously lacking key elements.

That all is not to say L'Exercice de l'État is a bad film as such, it's totally thought-through on a mechanical level, well-directed and well-acted - it's just not a particularly good film either.

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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special appearances by
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written by
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