Taking a slightly less brutal approach to working-class European strife than someone like Ken Loach, Stéphane Brizé has found in frequent collaborator Vincent Lindon the perfect vehicle for exploring the sympathetic angles of this topic. Having admittedly not seen the middle film At War, I must admire the working-class trilogy that began with the continuously under-discussed The Measure of a Man and now concludes with Another World; a definite step down from where this trilogy began, but undoubtedly a take worth acknowledging.Do you have any idea how hard it is to make middle-management sympathetic? Brizé certainly would at this point in his career, and yet transplanting his muse into this undesirable role is probably the best way one could go about that challenge. With Titane, Lindon finally seems to be enjoying a jump in profile, but it’s really with Brizé that he gets to show off the full range of his skill by way of so little performative indulgence. Every line of dialogue is appropriately delivered with an almost assured hesitancy as this character is forced to make miracles out of nothing for the appeasement of stubborn higher-ups. Lindon’s Philippe Lemesle may never break down in theatrical fashion, but just one look at this guy is enough to stress you out.While Lindon is a large part of what makes Another World work, he isn’t solely responsible for its success. Brizé and Olivier Gorce craft another screenplay built almost entirely around characters discussing business hardships, and the overlapping dialogue mixed with close-quarter shooting creates an unsensational atmosphere that puts you right into the thick of the conflict with no added context needed. It’s a shame, then, that Brizé’s attempts to add more context beyond the business hinder the film overall.Aside from his continuously repetitive and, frankly, comical musical choices, Brizé’s efforts to add dimension to Lemesle’s personal life manifest in a half-assed storyline with a troubled son and a divorce subplot that’s resolved almost as instantly as it’s presented to open the film. Simply observing what this man is forced to go through in the workplace is enough to get us invested in his struggles, but these underdeveloped paddings do little beyond taking the bare presentation that worked as an advantage and recontextualizing it as more of a double-edged sword. The antsy anticipation that comes with wondering how Lindon will come out on the other side of this situation is just as present as in The Measure of a Man, but with Another World, Stéphane Brizé’s retread of familiar territory doesn’t offer quite enough new to surpass the duo’s most noted collaboration.2021 Ranked.And with that, I’d like to end this review by shouting out the asshole two rows in front of me who, during this FESTIVAL SCREENING, pulled out his goddamn MACBOOK and started typing away until I found a dialogue-free moment of the film to tell him to fuck off. I get that I was the only person sitting behind him, but come on… theatre etiquette, people!
