Gaz de France

A kind of anticipation comedy on French politics, not one that makes you laugh out loud but more like a constant grin that stays with you for the rest of the day or longer. Nothing like a realistic political anticipation, here we are in the abstract and the absurd. Well, hardly more absurd than the real world, when you think about it. The story goes into terra incognita but it is well structured in successive parts and the length is tight.

Very rich mise-en-scene work by Forgeard too. One of the frequent figures here is an element seen in the foreground which will constitute a frame within the frame, reducing the space of the frame, creating a temporary obstacle, to represent the confinement of the characters.

The actors' performances are excellent. It's an ensemble cast that gets room for deliciously offbeat parts. Philippe Katerine plays, very funnily, a hesitating president.

The cherry on the cake, or maybe much more than that, is the sublime electronic music score composed by Bertrand Burgalat. It's a whole easy listening 1970s France that gets alive there.