Léa Seydoux stars in France

FRANCE
Directed by Bruno Dumont
Certificate: 12a
☆☆☆☆

TICKLE the public – a key phrase in the journalists’ lexicon. Life is interesting, and when you report on it, make sure you are not flippant but at the same time do not disregard that serious doesn’t have to mean dull. Bouncy reportage needs to be balanced with a rigorous pursuit of truth, calmly conveyed.

Bruno Dumont’s depressingly real take on TV news journalism and the cult of the celebrity reporter is funny, sad and to the point.

France (Léa Seydoux) is the successful nightly magazine show anchor who balances her clipped and professional interrogation of the big players discussing the big topics to reporting from war-torn frontlines, and trying her best to keep her family life together.

The pressure of fame begins to grind and the persona she and her producer have carefully nurtured over the years, starts fraying at the edges: her downward spiral begins when her life juggling leads her to being distracted and knocking a delivery driver off his moped. He suffers a minor injury but it sets in motion a train of confidence-sapping thoughts that prompt France to consider why she does what she does – and whether the hassle of being a publicly recognisable figure is worth it.

Seydoux is masterful in the lead, and what starts out as a more gentle satire develops into something altogether more serious.

Dumont asks questions about our insatiable appetite – fed and watered by social media – for a 24-hour news cycle and the pressure that puts on both consumer and producer. It feels a very unhealthy way for public discourse to take place and is timely. Added to this, we see how the glossy idea that fame is something to aspire to is rotten to its core: external confirmation of your life is wholly damaging, putting your happiness, as the lead does, in the hands of things she has no control over. That is one of the cleverly dressed-up messages Dumont is sharing.

Today, we see those horrendously damaging blurred lines between PR spin masquerading as news, and product placement as companies undermine genuine reporting by spending advertising revenue on PR firms, instead of supporting newspapers, and the horrendously named information wars in which entrenched powers use the media to propagate lies to protect their interests.

On top of this, we have the cult of the journalist, which again undermines the content: Laura Kuenssberg’s spell as the BBC’s political editor was dogged by criticism of her perceived lack of balance becoming personal attacks, distracting analysis focusing on policy.