Le Grand jeu (2015)
Directed by Nicolas Pariser

Film Review

Le Grand jeu marks an impressive feature debut for director Nicolas Pariser, who previously won the Prix Jean Vigo for his short film La République (2010). It is the kind of cerebral political thriller that is more likely to have been made on the other side of the English Channel - The Ghost Writer meets House of Cards with a soupçon of Edge of Darkness - but Pariser gives it a shot of Gallic romanticism that helps to set it apart from British examples of the genre.  At a time when mainstream French thrillers are becoming increasingly action-oriented and moving ever closer towards the crass American model, it is refreshing to come across one that is more concerned with character and well thought-out intrigue than wearisome rushing about and gory punch-ups for no discernible purpose.

The film was inspired by a high-profile news story from 2008 - the so-called 'Tarnac affair' in which a community of nine people were arrested in a village in central France for alleged anarchist conspiracy.  Whilst the nature of the threat facing western democracy has changed dramatically (from leftwing extremists to murderous Islamic fundamentalists), the film still has a powerful resonance, and there is something chillingly plausible in the idea of a government resorting to a Machiavellian shaping of popular culture to further its ends (which invariably involve eroding civil liberties in the pursuance of even greater powers to control the populace).

Nicolas Pariser shows flair on both the writing and directing fronts, and whilst he is perhaps a little too strongly influenced by previous films of this kind, he shows himself to be a director of considerable promise.  The film's main strength is the ambiguous relationship (a modern variation on Mephistopheles' corruption of Faust) between the protagonists - a government official who is never quite what he seems (a creepily charming André Dussollier) and the disillusioned writer who is duped into writing a novel to stir up political trouble (Melvil Poupaud in an unusually sympathetic role).  When the plot starts to take over in the film's second half, this is where the focus starts to drift and, try as he might, Pariser fails to deliver the tidy payoff the film needs to be totally effective.  Magnetic performances from Dussollier and Poupaud render most of the supporting cast superfluous, although it is a treat to see both of these great actors served with a script that is worthy of their respective talents.  Le Grand jeu is a compelling, elegantly crafted study in deception and manipulation that is guaranteed to send a shiver down the spine.

Film Synopsis

Pierre Blum is a writer in his mid-forties who had his biggest successes at the start of the 2000s.  One evening, outside a casino, he meets a stranger, Joseph Paskin, who appears keen to talk to him.  An influential figure in the political world, the latter offers Pierre a vital mission that will re-immerse him in a past he had hoped to forget whilst putting his life in danger.  As he becomes embroiled in a murky political intrigue, the writer can hardly help falling in love with Laura, an extreme leftwing political activist.  But can Pierre afford to trust anyone in this world where nothing is quite what it seems...?