10/09/2021 - VENICE 2021: Vincent Lindon sees huge chunks of foul play in the executive suite as Stéphane Brizé brings his acclaimed “work trilogy” to a first-rate conclusion

After going from the unemployment office in The Measure of a Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stéphane Brizé
film profile] to the factory floor in At War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stéphane Brizé
film profile], Stéphane Brizé now rounds off his acclaimed “work trilogy” in the executive suite with Another World [+see also:
trailer
interview: Stéphane Brizé
film profile], playing in competition at the 78^th Venice International Film Festival. As in the previous instalments, Vincent Lindon (his fifth collaboration with Brizé in total) gets the starring role, this time as a director at the French branch of a big American conglomerate, where profits and production rates are forever extendable and human capital is easily expendable.

Starting off with a classic pan across framed photos of two fiancés in love, a proud first-time father with his baby girl, a happy young family of four, and a slightly weathered family on big sister’s graduation day… Another World then swiftly and ruthlessly lives up to its title as we find Philippe (Lindon) and Anne Lemesle (Sandrine Kiberlain, Lindon’s real-life ex-wife), once those loving fiancés, at a lawyer’s office and in the middle of heated divorce negotiations. Philippe’s work is the culprit – in the last too many years, they’ve spent six weekends together, Anne coldly calculates. In an increasingly tense fly-on-the-wall scene, we get anger, accusation, resentment, tears and, ultimately, deep sadness.

Abrupt cut to a montage of Philippe’s everyday reality: fixing suit and tie, taking a pill, possibly for his heart or blood pressure, treadmilling at the gym – an appropriate metaphor for the rat race. Cut again, to Philippe’s everyday work reality, eating away those weekends that should be spent at home. The highly efficient operation, captured through a series of energetic board-meeting scenes, can always be bettered. A further cost cut across the EU operations has just been called for by the US HQ, and the French head honchos pass on the lay-off plan to the respective branch directors. There’s foul play (“Germany are already on top of this”) and the directors call their bluff (“We spoke to Germany yesterday; they’re in the same jam”). Be that as it may, the results are fully expected in both of Philippe’s realities, propelling him towards possible collapse.

Enter “deus ex machina” director Brizé and trilogy script partner Olivier Gorce with an offer of redemption, as an urgent family concern involving his ASD-diagnosed son Lucas comes up, forcing corporate and matrimonial crises temporarily aside. Given this breathing space, Philippe devises a plan in order to bring about a beneficial solution for all involved. The outcome, plausibly open, involves re-evaluation, hints of reconciliation and chunks of additional foul play (a particularly ugly American head is reared). Whether or not said outcome is a tad too good to be true, there’s no doubt that Philippe is a very decent guy, both at work and at home. And whether together or apart, one wishes the best of possible worlds for the Lemesles in an unsure future in this first-rate finish to a first-rate trilogy.

Another World was produced by France’s Nord-Ouest Films and France 3 Cinéma in association with Diaphana and Wild Bunch Production, with the participation of Canal+, Ciné+ and France Télévisions. Its international sales are overseen by Wild Bunch International.