France

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1:47

France

Released Dec 10, 2021

2h 13m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

67%

Tomatometer

69 Reviews

36%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

In FRANCE, a satirical drama set in contemporary Paris, Léa Seydoux stars as France de Meurs, a seemingly unflappable superstar TV journalist whose career, home life, and psychological stability are turned upside down after she carelessly drives into a young delivery man on a busy street. This unexpected eruption of reality triggers a series of self-reckonings as well as a strange romance that proves impossible to shake. As France attempts to slow down and retreat into a simpler, anonymous life, her fame continues to pursue her. Starting out as a tragicomic satire of the news media, writer-director Bruno Dumont's provocative new film spirals out into something darker as it examines the difficulty of maintaining one's sense of self in a corrosive culture.

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Critics Consensus

France might have benefited from a more passionate approach to its themes, but Léa Seydoux leads an amusing send-up of celebrity culture.

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Tara Brady

Irish Times

We’re accustomed to Dumont leapfrogging from one genre to another, but he has seldom attempted so many swerves and shifts as he manages here. France, like the director, makes for a pleasing guessing game.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 3, 2023

Full Review

Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

Doughty Léa Seydoux does her best with this toothless and tedious media satire, but not even two hours of verklempt close-ups can save a movie with so little to say.

Rated: 1/5

Jan 3, 2023

Full Review

Wendy Ide

Observer (UK)

France is watchable, if not subtle, but the picture labours its message with an overstretched running time and an oddly anticlimactic structure.

Rated: 3/5

Jan 1, 2023

Full Review

Juan Pablo Russo

EscribiendoCine

France, the protagonist and film, is anarchic, unstructured, unstable, sometimes hilarious, sometimes terribly banal, and other times intelligent. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 6/10

Dec 20, 2022

Full Review

Erick Estrada

Cinegarage

Léa Seydoux takes us through a hard-bitten contemporary world where truth changes from one minute to the next and tragedy has become an Instagram filter, a godless mystical XXI century. [Full review in Spanish]

Jun 14, 2022

Full Review

Filipe Freitas

Flick Feast

France is a bold move but hardly a successful one.

Rated: 2.5/5

Feb 18, 2022

Full Review

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Mario S

One depressing scene after another for what seemed like an endless two hours and change. Not a single character in the film had at least one redeeming quality.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/09/23

Full Review

Natalia R

France is a great movie. Léa Seydoux est magnifique.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

one of the slowest worst movies Ive ever seen. if I could give it a zero, I would,,, 2.5 hours long? I quit watching 45 minutes in. Dont waste your time.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This movie is a total failure. The satire fails completely, the whole is a cringe-festival and way too pathetic, the only thing that was alright was Léa Seydoux.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

brent m

If ever there were a film that embodies the notion of "Life sucks and then you die," this would be it. Writer-director Bruno Dumont's latest, a depressing cynical comedy-drama, takes the concept of weltschmerz to an entirely new level. That includes not only the content of the film's narrative, but also the agony that's inflicted upon audiences viewing this tediously slow, meandering, unfocused slog. Told from the perspective of an immensely popular French TV journalist who has everything that everyone supposedly wants -- fame, fortune, wealth, beauty -- the film follows her triumphs and tragedies, all of which leave her feeling eminently empty and depressed. Some of it is personal, some professional, and nearly always in matters of integrity, meaning and fulfillment, conditions that leave life affording us precious few joys. In some ways, the film could also be seen as a metaphor for the current state of society, most notably that of France (the nation) as reflected through France de Meurs (the protagonist). The foregoing may be all well and good in theory, but it's sorely lacking where the execution of this production is concerned. Dumont truly seems to be striving for something here, but it ends up feeling more like "reaching" in the end. This overlong, often-vague, frequently repetitive, generally lost cinematic exercise truly is one well worth skipping.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

France is Bruno Dumont at his worst, making a unfocused satirical look at the breakdown of a news reporter by giving us vague parts of he destructive life. Seydoux is a strong actress, but there is barely anything to save here.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

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Bruno Dumont

Director

Léa Seydoux

France de Meurs

Blanche Gardin

Lou

Benjamin Biolay

Fred de Meurs

Emanuele Arioli

Charles Castro

Juliane Köhler

Mme Arpel

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France: Trailer 1

1:47

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Synopsis

In FRANCE, a satirical drama set in contemporary Paris, Léa Seydoux stars as France de Meurs, a seemingly unflappable superstar TV journalist whose career, home life, and psychological stability are turned upside down after she carelessly drives into a young delivery man on a busy street. This unexpected eruption of reality triggers a series of self-reckonings as well as a strange romance that proves impossible to shake. As France attempts to slow down and retreat into a simpler, anonymous life, her fame continues to pursue her. Starting out as a tragicomic satire of the news media, writer-director Bruno Dumont's provocative new film spirals out into something darker as it examines the difficulty of maintaining one's sense of self in a corrosive culture.

Director: Bruno Dumont
Producer: Rachid Bouchareb, Jean Bréhat, Muriel Merlin, Dorothe Beinemeier
Screenwriter: Bruno Dumont
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Production Co: arte France Cinéma, Tea Time Film, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Red Balloon Film , RAI Cinema, 3B Productions, Ascent Film, Scope Pictures
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: French (France)
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 10, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 22, 2022
Box Office (Gross USA): $48.6K
Runtime: 2h 13m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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