Quai d'Orsay France 2013 – 113min.
Movie Rating
Quai d'Orsay
A minister hires a young graduate of the ENA to tweak his speeches.
Alexandre Taillard de Worms (Thierry Lhermitte) is the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and would like nothing better than to impress his counterparts by delivering brilliant speeches. So he hires Arthur Vlaminck (Raphaël Personnaz), a young graduate of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration to edit them. But once settled into his post, which is a size too big for him, Arthur finds himself having to deal with the minister’s annoying entourage (Niels Arestrup, Bruno Raffaelli) as well as the choppy instructions the minister gives him: between the deep and meaningful quotes he highlights in yellow, the staccato orders and the mundane advice offered by some of his friends, the minister seems to think his speeches are the fruits of his own talent! Meanwhile, he is scheduled to speak at the UN in defense of peace, to avoid a war in Oubanga...
Based on the French comic book by Christophe Blain and Abel Lanzac, freely inspired by Dominique de Villepin, this leap into the depths of French politics is less pointed than its graphic counterpart. Thierry Lhermitte’s performance is somewhat too mocking and cheerful, which minimizes the supposedly intimidating and imposing presence of his character, to the point where Quai d'Orsay sometimes verges on political farce.
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