L'exercice de l'État

L'execice de L'etat is like a species on the verge of extinction. You don't know much about its existence until you realize it is one of kind. You try to remember if you have ever seen something similar, but very little comes close. And because you feel this species may vanish away sometime soon, you grow fond of it. Like pandas, it is a creature you care about, and it would be too bad if they simply disappear. But make no mistake - this movie is no panda, an alligator would be more appropriate, and that's exactly what you see when the movie starts. You wonder why, but this film does not offer easy answers. You must go on and find them yourself, and this is what most delighted me. Watching this film made me feel like an outside, after all, it's about politics. But the more in doubt, the more excited I was. And it made more and more sense when I started thinking about the recent carnage for power in the American presidential campaign, the economic and political warzone in the European Union. This film is a rare opportunity to peep in behind the doors of political exercise nowadays. However, it is more than a lesson. Olivier Gourmet is formidable and you know he achieved something big. Politicians don't enjoy any popularity nowadays, but his minister is still fascinating even after causing a casualty that is cruelly exposed to our eyes. And despite his survival-of-the-fittest manner, you may approval some of his principles in the end. L'execise de L'etat is indeed a rare film. It did not make me laugh, it did not make me cry, it just made me think, which is a great achievement in movies nowadays, unfortunately.

The car crash comes out of nowhere, on an abandoned road with no traffic either way: the crazy suddenness of it, the violence leading to a death, it's a tremendous piece of film-making. Editing, camera work and sound all come together impressively.

The film is a bit loose in the narration, there are perhaps too many small roles that don't have much to do with the central characters, but all in all this is a picture that is worth seeing. Olivier Gourmet, whom I have enjoyed in many films over the years, here shows some impressive acting skills. This politician is in trouble: he's got to close some train stations and the union is on his back--in France the unions are much more powerful than in North America. His desire not to make waves runs up against political realities; he's running out of time. Philippe Scholler also wrote the music for the film; it's very evocative.

Films about politicians work best when they are concerned with real people and real events. JFK is a fine example. There are others. But reduced to made up names and made up events plots have to be really strong and clear to work as well. You can not get away with a lot of slick atmosphere, which is what you get with this movie. Like so much of French film making today, style not only triumphs over substance - it becomes the substance. Here, ministers talk on mobile phones and sound serious. They sign documents and visit the scenes of disasters and make heart felt speeches. We are given a peep behind closed doors, doors that hide what is really going on in the power wars that politicians wage and which affect all of us. But these are not real politicians. Just a bunch of names that mean nothing. The movie opens with a nude woman climbing into the mouth of a crocodile. Nothing to do with the plot but it is the best scene by a mile. And the French made Riffi!!!! Quality acting, though. The lead in particular.

The storyline of this film is really inconsequential, what is important here is the strange inner trip into the high sphere of political power in France. We've all heard that power corrupts. In this films, it does not so much corrupts as corrodes. The compromissions, the betrayals small and large, the disasters. In the middle of the movie there is a very important scene that takes everyone by surprise. The scene is violent, very real, astonishing, yet full of symbols. I loved the civil servant played by Michel Blanc. I think this is the role of his life.

I don't want to say more because I do not want to spoil the film. In my opinion this is a very unusual masterpiece. Special mention for the sound editing.

I saw this last year as part of a French Film Fest in Boston; it floored me then, and when I saw it again this year, it floored me again. Thankfully 2 other reviewers on its IMDb page-Philippe Guenot and hatugai - say it as well or better than I ever could.

I'm sure I missed a lot of messages that politically aware French people would not miss, but , in spite of that, there was still an abundance of rich material to absorb . That Olivier Gourmet is really something. I had admired his work in The Son and The Promise , but The Minister will be calling card for Gourmet in the same way Raging Bull was a calling card for DeNiro.I want to see other films by Gourmet and this screenwriter/director.