It’s day of Black Friday in Paris, and Albert must at all costs obtain a television at a discount in order to then resell it at a high price. Unfortunately, activists decided that morning to block access to the store. Their goal: to make customers aware of the fact that overconsumption contributes to the climate crisis. Considerations that Albert obviously has nothing to do with. However, through circumstances that are by turns crazy, dramatic, even extraordinary, Albert will find himself not only involved in said militant group, but hopelessly in love with its leader, Valentine. With A difficult yearthe authors of the successes Untouchables And Exceptional, Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, continue in the vein of social humor. However, this time, the tandem pushes the point.
The film opens with a montage as funny as it is brilliant from the archives showing a succession of Presidents of the Republic announcing, with a serious air, a difficult year ahead, or some formula of the same ilk – hence the title. In doing so, the co-writers and co-directors remind us that the political class, with its wooden language, does not need their help to engage in parody.
That being said, the main theme ofA difficult year is over-indebtedness. It is thus revealed very early on that Albert is so “in the red” that he no longer has enough to live in. His multiple schemes are not even enough to cover the interest on his debt.
At the same time, there is Bruno, the “customer” who had to buy the famous television. Also caught in the throat for compulsively buying too much on credit, Bruno is on the verge of committing the irreparable when Albert shows up at his house to close their transaction. Birth of something like a friendship.
Through narrative contortions that we will not mention, the two thieves subsequently sneak into a happy hour organized by the militant group they met at the beginning. It was the free drink, not the cause, that drew them there.
A mystification ensues which sees them join the gang. From politicized discussions to outbursts, Albert falls in love with Valentine, who refuses to indulge in such feelings, given the state of the world.
Verve and dynamism
There are many charming elements in this eighth feature film from Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano. We laugh here and there, obviously. The statement is also not lacking in relevance.
As for Pio Marmaï (The three Musketeers) and Jonathan Cohen (Sentinel), they are tasty, the first as a manipulator overtaken by a consciousness he did not know he possessed, the second as a depressive who finds a taste for life after having, in some way, invented a new one.
Unlike their best vintages, however, it emerges fromA difficult year a feeling of artificiality. Even in their most improbable developments, Untouchables, Exceptionalbut also The meaning of the celebration, remained firmly anchored in a recognizable reality. This quality in turn gave these films a veneer of authenticity, an authenticity that we seek in vain here.
What’s more, the love story rings false, like the female character to whom Noémie Merlant tries to give relief — the star of Portrait of the girl on fire deserved better.
On the other hand, everything is attractive on a visual level, the filmmakers having since time refined their aesthetic and technical approach. The verve is there, the dynamism too. An overall decent, but easy comedy coming from this gifted duo.