La chose publique

A filmmaker is working on a commission on the subject of gender equality for the Arte TV series “Masculin/Féminin” when his actress wife (Anne Alvaro) informs him that she’s met someone and wants to separate after years of living together, two children, and several films. She says, “we’ve become the same, we’ve merged, we’re dead”. He allows this emotional chaos to inform the film project, which is set in the realm of local politics, thus naming it “Le Lit national” after a store that sells beds in his neighborhood. This autographically-inspired comedy unfolds before the backdrop of the 2002 presidential elections and is also a piece of light theatre, a war film, and a romance - the finale is formed by Rodolphe Burger’s Song “Unlimited Marriage”. (bik)