Pierre Schoeller

(On TV, September 2022) As far as political thrillers go, l’exercice de l’état puts its weird cards on the table early on, with a dream prologue that gives the entire production the feel of an esoteric horror film. The rest of the film isn’t any cheerier—writer-director Pierre Schoeller isn’t playing nice, and there’s something implacable in the way he puts his protagonist (a nebbish Olivier Gourmet) in a no-win situation in which even his power as a minister is incapable of stopping a privatization effort he doesn’t agree with. There’s a lot more in the details, of course—personal betrayals, public pressure, a blend of historical events in a fictional plot. Much of the result is quite stylish, sometimes overly so: There’s a pivotal car accident that feels quite arbitrary, because the events described in the script are not visually portrayed in a way that makes sense. The film’s unwavering darkness also takes its toll, although this may be a matter of personal preference: I have a much greater fondness for political comedies than political tragedies, and there are times when L’exercice de l’État is so single-minded in its inevitable one-track dramatic arc that it feels overlong, overexposed and yet underwhelming. It’s still worth a look for political junkies (French politics are their own special blend of weird and ritualistic to North Americans!), but don’t expect to be bowled over by the often-imperfect results.