“Goliath”: a well-deserved slap

In a court in France, a lawyer is pleading for recognition that the illness that killed Margo, a farmer, was caused by tetrazine, a pesticide that she and his wife used on their farm. In vain.

In Moscow, a lobbyist tells a conference that children are dying in mines in Africa to extract the materials that will be used to make electric car engines, cleverly diverting attention from the problem of pollution caused by gasoline cars .

Finally, in a French countryside, a sports teacher is campaigning for recognition of the role of pesticides in the abominably high rate of children born without arms in her region. In vain too.

They are perfect strangers to each other, but they are all linked by an element, this substance that has caused so much ink to flow: tetrazine.

If, like many people, you thought “glyphosate” when reading tetrazine, that’s normal. The film Goliatha new, dare we say, “fiction” by Frédéric Tellier, is inspired by the “Monsanto Papers” affair revealed by an investigation by the French newspaper The world in 2017, based on declassified documents from the American agricultural sector giant.

Obsession with realism

The director and co-screenwriter of Goliath, Frédéric Tellier, is an “aficionado” of films based on real events. Whether up close with The SK1 case, which relates to the trial of the very first (official) French serial killer, or further with Save or perish, which is inspired by real stories of burnt firefighters. “My obsession in my films is realism,” he said in an interview. With many technical details and references to other well-known scandals, Tellier hits the mark. The greatest strength of this third feature film is to detail the mechanism worthy of a Rolex of lobbying and its sprawling influence in our society.

To embody the lobbyist responsible for making people forget the health problems caused by tetrazine, this “merchant of doubts”, as he sees himself described in the film, Tellier returned to a safe bet that had already worn his previous film: the darling of the French cinema Pierre Niney. A good choice, given the excellent performance of the former member of the Comédie-Française in Save or perish. The actor returns in a misuse and is chillingly cynical.

Facing him, Gilles Lellouche, who plays the lawyer, and Emmanuelle Bercot, in the role of the teacher, provide the necessary credibility to their characters and know how to make them accessible and touching. The thing was however not so easy, because the scenario and the direction have, them, a little too tendency to draw towards the pathos. Certain scenes obviously serve no purpose other than to touch the chord, such as when Margo’s wife watches their wedding videos, the montage dwelling too much on Margo’s already failing health. The same is true when the director insists on the gap between the middle of the lobbies, with its debauchery of luxury, and that of the two other main characters, the “real people”. The contrast becomes almost laughable when it should rather startle us.

However, we will forgive him this shortcoming, as the film’s purpose is so strong. Moreover, Tellier scatters the scenes of lightning realism, which cannot be left aside when leaving the dark rooms. Despite some flaws, Goliath inflicts a well-deserved slap in the face on Europe, on France and on men who take pleasure in inaction.

Goliath

★★★ 1/2

Drama by Frédéric Tellier with Gilles Lellouche, Pierre Niney and Emmanuelle Bercot. France, 2022, 122 minutes. Indoors

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