L’exercice de l’Etat written and directed by Pierre Schoeller - 8.8 out of 10

L’exercice de l’Etat written and directed by Pierre Schoeller

8.8 out of 10

Translated in our part of the world as The Minister, this is broadcast on TV5, perhaps a French replica to CNN, BBC and other channels with an international audience, which includes with news artistic programs, good films like this one.

The fact that it has been selected in the competition for the Cannes Film Festival speaks volumes about the great value of this motion picture, rewarded with ten trophies, three of which are Cesars, for Best Supporting Actor for Michel Blanc and Best Original Screenplay – the writer/director Pierre Schoeller.

For those who despise politicians – an increasingly proportion of the populations of various countries that decide to vote with lunatics – such as Trump, Farage – rather than the known figures – this film may be unappealing, although it is not exclusively about power, machinations and chameleons.

What is special about this feature is the fact that it does not propose to unveil some ugly, despicable conspiracy – those who think the world is a huge conspiracy arena are also more numerous by the day and annoy me at the sauna – and overall, the awful side of those who govern.

Yes, we will see the dark side of Minister Bertrand Saint-Jean aka the outstanding, mesmerizing, complex, formidable Olivier Gourmet – seen in Read My lips, reviewed at http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/read-my-lips-aka-sur-mes-levres-written.html and The Midwife, also at http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/12/sage-femme-aka-midwife-written-and.html among others.

However, the Transport Minister, to begin with, for he might be lucky to get another department, when this domain becomes entangled in the protests, clash of interests, need to abandon firm promises, once it is decided at Matignon and Elysee palaces that the railway stations would be privatized, since the finances of the state face crisis due to too much debt and rising spending.

What do the Scandinavians – was it the Swedish? – do when they have to face the problem of the train stations? They increase the subsidy…

What do the Germans do?

They sell them…but who buys them? The Chinese…

This is part of the argument in the polemic surrounding this hot issue, which is causing massive protests – we know that the Yellow Vests have been marching, at times burning cars and even scooters, defacing some monuments of architecture – and in one instance, violent men are ready to beat Saint-Jean up in a scene that reminds one of the time when a CEO had his clothes torn off by opponents.

Gilles is the right hand man of the Minister, someone who may still be fired once it serves the designs of the ruthless politician – in the manner of Trump, who throws his cronies under the bus, after their had served nefarious deeds – and he is portrayed by the remarkable Michel Blanc.

In the debut of the motion picture, Gilles calls his boss in the middle of the night, because a major accident has taken place, with dead people, including children, and the official needs to be at the scene, where television cameras would film and this looks like an opportunity to do his job and get credit and eventual popularity, although it must be said that this is a more complicated character, not the stupid orange man in the White House, or the crooks that govern my country.

There are some pertinent discussions, some polemic dialogue when he visits the mobile home of his new driver, Martin Kuypers, and the idea that politicians used to be more respected, while in our time they are treated with maximum disgust – this is a good point, for a small number do use their energy to work for the others, for the country so to say and they deserve more appreciation.

On the other hand, the level of happiness of various people depends to an important degree on the morality, quality, honesty of those who rule them and the trust they benefit from, with Scandinavian countries trusting in their leaders and the other compatriots and people in Brazil, my land feeling they cannot have any confidence in those who have the power, which translates in the highest levels of reported wellbeing in countries like Denmark and Finland and the lowest levels for territories marred by corruption and dictatorship.

In an interview, Minister Saint-Jean declares that he would not accept the privatization of railroad stations, only to have another member of the cabinet, the minister for the budget, state that given the state of the public finances, the government needs to take exactly this step, of selling the mentioned assets, causing the fury of the determined, skilled, strong, resilient main character.

The impetuous protagonist has much more value than one hundred trumps put together, but he is also perverted by the game that he plays and if he seems a strong man that would not give in and abandon his promise of not selling the stations, he loses ground with time, becomes ambiguous and finally, he may even act against his declared principles to move ahead.

That is one side, but on a personal note, he is very affected by the death of Kuypers, in an accident which is in part the responsibility of the minister, who had decided to take the route of a highway which is still not opened for the public – even if it would soon be, it might be that something on the road caused the tragedy- and Saint-Jean feels a deep emotion, his desperation is not false, in spite of the fact that in the end, he may think that a speech would get him points from this terrible event.

It is tempting to mention the complex evolution of the film beyond this stage, for the chances of someone reading this note up to the end are small and coupled with the likelihood that anyone would search and find a French film on Netflix or some other outlet are similar to that of a major asteroid striking the earth in the next few years