Call My Agent! Netflix review: sparkling, sophisticated escapism
A unique element of French culture is its tradition of boulevard comedy – plays written in an idiom lying somewhere between the smart Jewish wisecracking of the American sitcom and the raw Whitehall farce of Ben Travers and Brian Rix.
Nobody’s trousers fall down in boulevard comedy, and nobody dies either: its stock-in-trade is middle-class embarrassment, marital indiscretion, putting your foot in it, saving and losing face, and the perils of the white lie – the "tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." The worst that can happen is being found out.
This is the stuff of the deliciously sophisticated French television series Call My Agent!, a word-of-mouth hit whose fourth series has just landed on Netflix. It is set in ASK, a ritzy Parisian talent agency where everything and everybody is in a constant state of panic and crisis – rival firms are poaching big names, contracts are falling through, the finances are in dire straits and the partners are at loggerheads as well as dealing with their complex private lives.
The brilliant twist in the concept – originated by a former agent called Dominique Besnehard and developed by script-writer Fanny Herrero – is that each episode features an actual star of French cinema or theatre playing "themselves" or at least a parodic version of their public image.
Isabelle Huppert insists on working on two films simultaneously; Monica Bellucci craves a date with someone who doesn’t just want her for her body; Jean Dujardin can’t stop Method acting even when the cameras are off. The agents are slaves to their silly whims, their monster egos and paranoid insecurities. How to prevent them totally screwing up?
Known in France as Dix pour cent (in reference to the 10 per cent commission that agents take from their clients in return for negotiating their contracts), Call My Agent! has become a global hit, capitalising on the universal fascination with office politics and the gap between on- and off-stage personalities.
This new series is every bit as sparkling and inventive as the previous three, and fans can anticipate some piquant surprises, as well as guest appearances from Jean Reno and Sigourney Weaver. All the performances are pitch-perfect, but the stand-out has to be Camille Cottin playing the hard-nosed, hard-pressed lesbian Andréa, whose efforts to juggle her professional life and a baby form a major plotline.
There’s plenty of intrigue afoot, but nothing really nasty occurs. Like Schitt’s Creek, it’s all immensely likeable – perfect escapism for a bleak winter.
