Written and directed by Jeanne Balibar
Starring: Jeanne Balibar, Ramzy Bedia, Emmanuelle Beart, with Mathieu Almaric, Mounir Margoum, Marlene Saldana, and a supporting cast of hundreds
Running time: 1 hour and 49 minutes
Language: French, Arabic, Soninke, and many others
Not-rated, with a tender sex scene and a suicide attempt

by Jenny Swadosh

NOTE: This film is part of a triad of new releases curated by French Institute-Alliance Francaise of New York and screening online through Symphony Space Virtual Cinema (NY) and Laemmle Virtual Cinema (LA).

I first fell in love with Jeanne Balibar through the French Institute-Alliance Francaise, where I attended weekly after work film screenings in the Nineties. I didn’t care what was showing, it was a ritual and I was religious in my attendance. From the moment she appeared on screen as a slightly menacing documentary filmmaker and romantic interest in the Podalydes brothers’ comedy, Only God Sees Me (1998), I was transfixed. Over two decades later, here is Balibar as a real life director, writer and star of an absurd romantic comedy about an ambitious New Deal-style (or maybe Great Society?) local government administration and the screwball couple at its core. If you watch the credits, you can also evaluate Balibar’s singer-songwriter credentials with music by veteran collaborator David Neerman.