Les Irréductibles (2006) - film review

On the day that his son fails his baccalaureate, Michel loses his job.  He has been employed at the same factory for twenty years and now he has no job, no qualifications, no prospects.  Michel soon realises that the only way he is going to get another job is by first passing his baccalaureate.  So, he goes back to school, with his friend Gérard, who is in the same position.  Naturally, Michel’s son is not at all pleased to find himself in the same class as his dad...

Renaud Bertrand’s brave stab at a social comedy would undoubtedly have had much greater impact if it had focused on its central theme - a middle-aged man’s struggle against unemployment - instead of attempting to cobble together various half baked story ideas.  This was Bertrand’s first cinema film, and it shows.  A great fan of Ken Loach’s films, he had previously made several films of television, which could explain why this feels painfully like standard TV fare - a watchable but pretty vacuous comedy-drama.

Assuming you are not put off by the hideous theme song that companies the opening credits (and which is reprised several times during the film), you will probably soon grow tired of the abundance of clichés and plot digressions which weaken the central narrative and pretty well obliterate our sympathy for the main characters.  Things take a turn for the frankly ridiculous when Bertrand starts to throw in some musical detours which serve no purpose other that to expose the film’s startling superficiality.   This is a shame because the film’s basic premise clearly has some mileage and the performances (from a high calibre cast) are generally pretty respectable.

© James Travers 2010

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