L'exercice de l'Etat

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.