Respond to these rapid questions in our France quiz and we will tell you which France character you are. Play it now.
The bitter Gallic black comedy “France,” despite having received the blessing of the Pope of Trash, can be difficult to appreciate at times due to the fact that it begins and generally continues to be a general critique of French mass media, but is primarily concerned with one specific media personality phony. Léa Seydoux portrays France de Meurs, a talk show host who is after power and influence. France believes she is a journalist, but in reality she is a vapid gadfly and a would-be demagogue who wants to change the world.
Writing/directing duo Bruno Dumont (“Outside Satan,” “Joan of Arc”) can’t get enough of France, even though she only thinks she’s mastering the country’s ego-driven system of faux-populist reporting, which she’s actually internalized and thus accepted as truth at face value. After she accidentally hits a motorcyclist with her car, Seydoux’s character is forced to confront her own self-perception and change it. France, on the other hand, was almost certainly doomed by the time we met her.
Generally speaking, Dumont’s interest in France is more ambiguous than it is strictly critical, but he also doesn’t appear to care enough about Seydoux’s character to make an effort to actively develop her. He appears to be more interested in France as an idea than in any particular aspect of her.
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In the film’s opening scenes, Dumont expresses a level of contempt that would fill a kitchen sink at the expense of Seydoux’s anti-heroine, a self-absorbed media personality who interviews political pundits while also inserting herself into human interest stories on her popular television news program. At a press conference, France boldly inquires of a politician whether he is simply “heedless or powerless” in regards to the “insurrectional state of France,” implying that he is both. He responds to her question with an excessive amount of deference, as if her celebrity status necessitated his taking her question into consideration. As if they were elementary school students passing notes to each other without fear of being punished, France and her yes-woman producer Lou (Blanche Gardin) exchange immodest—and proudly vulgar—gestures to each other throughout the film.
France Quiz
Dumont continues to sneer at France and her protective social/professional bubble by following her around at first at work, and then at home. Dumont is a Frenchman living in the United States. At work, France evades aggressive pundits with the same ease and speed with which she directs and develops on-the-spot interview segments in order for them to be cut and packaged for her television program, France France France. France spends her time at home with her son Jo (Gatan Amiel) and avoids her jealous husband Fredric (Jean-Paul Sartre) (Benjamin Biolay). These two equally loveless worlds will inevitably collide in a series of tiresome episodes that will only serve to demonstrate how delusional France has been in believing that she is as special as she is media-savvy for so long.
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France is approached for on-the-spot selfies and autographs on such a regular basis that she is inevitably drawn in by two men who don’t appear to be interested in her celebrity status. Among the supporting characters is Charles Castro (Emanuele Arioli), a Latin scholar and would-be lover whose motivations are so obvious that he’s ultimately more amusing as a running joke (he just won’t go away!) than as a supporting character (but perhaps he really does love her!). And then there’s Baptiste (Jawad Zemmar), the aforementioned motorcyclist who becomes an uneasy target for France’s charitable organizations (his parents are unable to work, and he is responsible for providing for them!).
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Dumont repeatedly reminds us of how little he values France and how little he admires her. Although she is overly competent at her job, her cardinal sin is not that she is too good at it, which makes her an obvious target for our contempt. In reality, France is a typical Dumont martyr because she has no understanding of what it is about her job — and the unnaturally un-nuanced, demeaning point of view that it confirms — that is so contemptible: that the media has conditioned us to accept that seeing the world in simplistic, soundbite-friendly terms is normal. France is a product of that system, and she will never truly change as a result, because, once again, she has no idea how to deal with the situation. As a result, no matter how many personal and public crises threaten France, she will continue to unwittingly degrade and insult her interview subjects and her audience simply because she has never been truly thrown out of her circle of influence. She ain’t no Alan Partridge, that’s for sure.
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It’s always more interesting to watch Dumont direct instead of writing the script, especially when he blocks and holds a shot for long enough to suggest that there’s a lot more going on than his ignoble on-screen characters could possibly comprehend, let alone understand themselves. On the other hand, spending so much time with France, a character who is consistently hollow, can be exhausting.
France’s inner life and qualities are only hinted at by Seydoux’s sensitive performance, which is typical of her. Because every time France comes close to seeing a potentially unpleasant side of herself, she is diverted by airhead enablers who keep her self-conscious but unaware of what she is seeing. Towards the end of the film, Lou attempts to console France by telling her that she is a “icon,” and that icons are “made of mud.” That is the solipsistic point around which Dumont has France revolve throughout “France,” with only a slight variation from scene to scene. In theory, this type of self-victimization could be amusing; however, in this reality, it is not so amusing at all.
Select theaters are now showing the film.
For more personality quizzes check this: The Conversation Quiz.
