Quai D’Orsay

Veteran French auteur Bertrand Tavernier (A Sunday in the Country, D’Artagnan’s Daughter, The Princess of Montpensier) shifts gears for a sparkling and savvy comedy of political manners in Quai d’Orsay. New graduate Arthur (Raphaël Personnaz) is hired as a speechwriter for French foreign minister Alexandre Taillard de Worms (a superb Thierry Lhermitte). As Arthur learns how to handle his unpredictable boss and, under the supervision of Chief of Staff Claude (Neils Arestrup), shield him from daily disasters, the threat of an international war looms, raising the stakes even higher. This adaptation of Abel Lanzac’s comic is a madcap take on the French political scene in the vein of Armando Iannucci’s In the Loop, and moves at a blistering pace. Pitched somewhere between Yes, Minister and The West Wing, Quai d’Orsay is a merciless satire of the French political classes that will resonate with anyone who has ever lamented the caliber of some of our elected representatives.

Winner – Best Screenplay, San Sebastian Film Festival 2013.

Presented with the support of the French Embassy and the Institut Français.