Pierre Schoeller
France | 2011 | 105mins | 35mm | Colour | Subtitled
Politics is a wound that never heals.
Bertrand Saint-Jean is the Minister of Transport in the French government, an unglamorous position for one with ambitions, but when a bus crashes into a ravine resulting in several casualties, Saint-Jean and his team sweep into action and immediately take control of the situation. Buoyed by the flush of a successfully executed operation, the minister makes promises that enhance his stock but put him into conflict with other ministerial departments.
Having commenced with one of the most arresting opening sequences committed to film – one that both signals Bertrand Saint-Jean’s inner anxiety and functions as a metaphor for the dog-eat-dog world of politics, Schoeller amps up the tension to thriller levels, highlighting the chicanery, machinations and bruised humanity native to political life. At the heart of the film is the peerless sparring act of Saint-Jean and his all-knowing private secretary Gilles (Michel Blanc, in peerless form), placing The Minister in the same traditions of Yes, Minister and The Thick Of It.
Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) – Cannes, 2011
Producers Denis Freyd, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Leading Players Olivier Gourmet, Michel Blanc, Zabou Breitman, Laurent Stocker
Photography Julien Hirsch
Script Pierre Schoeller
Editor Laurence Briaud
Music Philippe Schoeller
Print Source www.docandfilm.com
Part of:
Galas 2011 »
18 Meals / 18 Comidas 
Best Intentions 
Bonsai 
Like Crazy 
The Baron / O Barão 
The City Below 
The Flying Machine 
The Whistleblower 
Toomelah
