The French Minister

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04/11/2015 Witty, funny and amazingly French ! See more 02/15/2015 This is much more than a slapstick comedy. There is some depth of character and insights into how government offices work, even in the face of debilitating bureaucracy. The foreign affairs minister gets extra points for passion and conviction. See more 09/23/2014 A satire of what the French do best: spouting out an endless stream of dizzying high-octane meaningless bullshit. Great film! See more Jesse O 08/25/2014 Somehow, this film reminds me of a French version of In The Loop. I don't think this film comes close to that, but I'm somewhat reminded of it. I quite liked this film however with its lunacy and chaotic approach to these group of people trying to do whatever they can in order to avoid setting off a third world war, it's clear this film is set prior to the start of the Iraq war in 2003, but the names of some of the countries are fictionalized. The film also satirizes the fact that Taillard isn't really the brains of the operation but Claude is and Taillard is really more of a figurehead, a charismatic leader in troubled times. The scene that highlights this the most is the scene where Claude is making phone calls in order to avoid setting off a conflict between countries while, at the same time, Taillard is complaining about the highlighters he is given not being good enough. I don't think I'm doing justice to this scene because Taillard goes on an rant of epic proportions. He will just not shut up about his highlighters. There's also another scene that highlights this, but this time Taillard isn't ranting about anything incredibly stupid, so it's not as memorable. But Taillard, with all his grandstanding, his lunacy, the chaos he causes around him, sending papers flying EVERY time he comes in the room, isn't exactly a useless man with no leadership capabilities. He calms down a potentially volatile situation with his charisma and presence, and also chooses to help Vlaminck to help save a family that is about to be expelled/deported (I don't know which) from his girlfriend's school. So he's not entirely useless. The film is certainly satirical, it shows off the completely chaotic world that Vlaminck finds himself in, the chaos that goes along with that sort of job. And I can somewhat imagine it being like that, which is why I wonder why ANYONE would take a job that's clearly very stressful. Going all over the place, having to redo a speech 15 times because Taillard isn't satisfied with it, the stress that must come along with being in power as a war is about to start and how you do everything to keep that from happening. Quite a stressful job. The acting is excellent, Thierry Lhermitte, as Taillard, absolutely steals the show in literally every scene he appears in. He was incredibly convincing in the role and he just has that presence that makes him a believable politician in the film. The rest of the cast is quite good actually, but this is all about Thierry Lhermitte and he certainly delivers the goods. I can't really complain about the film, it offers some really good laughs, but I think it drags a little bit in some parts. Outside of that, this is a very good political satire. Perhaps not quite In The Loop, but pretty damn good regardless. See more 08/13/2014 Originally titled " Quai d'Orsay " . A funny, irreverent look at French diplomacy. Entertaining enough. See more 05/26/2014 An hilarious farce based on true events. Lhermitte is brilliant. See more Read all reviews

The French Minister

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