From A Film Festival 2022: “France” by Bruno Dumont

At this point, Bruno Dumont has made it quite clear that if there is one word that defines him as a director, it is surely: special. The director who took off with his wonderful series P’tit Quinquin and reaffirmed his talent with Ma Lout y Jeannete, the childhood of Joan of Arc, the surrealist musical about the childhood of Joan of Arc, returns to the big screen with a production of invoice and carried out by none other than Léa Seydoux in one of the best roles of her career.

France is the name of both the film and the protagonist of the film, a television magazine journalist in the style of Ana Rosa Quintana or Susana Griso who tries to maintain her fame in a postmodern world where the sense of morality does not seem well defined. The incredible start of the film presents us with the protagonist making obscene gestures at length with her assistant in the middle of an appearance by Emmanuel Macron himself. France seems to constantly laugh at everyone (although she spends half the film crying) and absorbs the attention of absolutely everything, to the point of giving her self-centeredness more importance than the war itself that she sometimes portrays in field reports. . Parallel to her television career, France must deal with marital problems, a rude son and a lover who has betrayed her. All this impregnated with the special tone of Dumont in which a car accident can take 5 minutes, chaining incidents each more surreal.

France is a scathing critique of television media and a postmodern era plagued by incomprehensible idolatry. But France It also shows many other things, many nuances that end up confusing the true intentions of the director. That is why it is even reasonable that the spectator leaves the film without knowing exactly what he has witnessed. Surely this is part of the charm of Dumont, unclassifiable films and that in this case, thanks to its workmanship and its impressive leading actress, can reach a wider audience.

France (Bruno Dumont, 2021) ⭐️⭐️⭐️