Alice et le maire

The movie genre showing political backstages is firmly established, but what does happen if the boss is Fabrice Luchini and an improbable but brilliant philosopher joins the party? Well, you'll get a thoughtful comedy with punching, suggestive dialogues and a warm look on an ending left-wing political career. And extremely vague answers.

I've enjoyed Fabrice Lucchini in a lot of movies, which is why I went to see this one. He does his usual fine job of creating a character. But the story didn't much interest me, and most of the rest of the characters were very formulaic. The speech the the mayor and his female assistant near the end of the movie was enthralling - a "why can't we have that sort of candidate" moment - but I don't know that it justified sitting through the rest of the movie.

Alliance Française French Film Festival Alice is a philosopher who is invited to work for the Mayor of Lyon. Paul, the Mayor has reached the time in his life where he is suffering from a lack of new ideas, both political and of any other kind. Alice, unknowingly to herself is also having a crisis of self belief. Can these two very different people complete each other? What are the defining characteristics of a real friendship?

ALICE AND THE MAYOR is a slice of life gentle sort of film that touches lightly upon serious problems. There are no higher stakes and dramatic turns. But it's a timely reminder that those are often not needed to have a turmoil in one's soul.

The main focus of the film is in dialogue. It is swift, precise, somewhat intellectual but never snobbish. There are many characters, some are memorable even though they fleetingly enter and leave the scene. Fabrice Luchini, as the mayor, is warm, with not being overly friendly, and stern in a way that comes out as gentle. It's a complex character with only the tip of the iceberg being shown, but somehow we can feel the rest of it hidden away. A wonderful performance indeed.

This is not a film for everyone. It's very smooth and devoid of any sharp angles. If politics is a cutthroat business this is not how it's presented here. For most of the viewers the characters will seem to come from a parallel world. Even being very likeable, they are extremely detached from reality and this is the movie's weakest point.

Right from the beginning, we easily recognize the agitated, mischievous and disenchanted atmosphere of Quai d'Orsay (2013) (a lot) and L'exercice de l'Etat (2011) (a little) with an obvious inspiration from the universe of Éric Rohmer.

Paul Théraneau (Fabrice Luchini) is the current mayor of Lyon and in the midst of an existential crisis. He compares himself to a Formula One with an overpowered engine but out of fuel, continuing to move thanks to inertia more than anything else. He fears that his electorate notices it. He recruits in this way Alice Heimann (Anaïs Demoustier), a woman as brilliant as young and whose career is limited to professorship within the prestigious University of Oxford. She is obviously smart but her political and professional inexperience will quickly contrast with the lions' den atmosphere that reigns in the town hall of Lyon and the French Socialist Party.

Beyond the complicity that is very quickly developed between Paul and Alice, the film skillfully mixes politics (Fabrice Luchini), philosophy (Anaïs Demoustier), communication (Antoine Reinartz), tradition (Pascal Rénéric), art (Maud Wyler), friendship (Alexandre Steiger), uselessness (Nora Hamzawi), ... Despite some slight snags, the result is fundamentally successful. I really appreciated the obvious quality of the dialogues and these excellent acting games around Fabrice Luchini.

As a synthesis: 7/8 of 10

This film creates a delightful romantic setting for two subtle characters -- Alice and Mayor, both charming -- to build a dialog on current social politics that culminates in brilliant answers to current social-economic questions without breaching the comfort of a great date-night film. Brilliant balance! Profound, deeply rewarding, beautiful, charming and cute! One of my favorite films of all time. I saw this on a plane to Paris (English subtitles) and I strongly encourage you to bring it mainstream in America, at least in the independent theater network (where Woody Allen's films go). More please!