Whatever You Say

I believe this is one of the first films directed by Guillaume Canet (Tell No One) at a time when he was married to its lead actress, Diane Kruger. Canet is Bastien, a peon who works at a television production company. He hopes to advance his own creative ideas but barring his way up the corporate ladder is the boorish host of a trash talk show whom he is assistant to. Bastien is not tough enough to tell the host like it is and is passive aggressive, but manages to catch the attention of the owner of the company, Mr. Broustal (Francois Berleand). Broustal asks for his opinions and invites him to his country home for the weekend with his young wife Clara (Kruger). Bastien gets a little full of himself and thinks Broustal sees his so-called talents that have yet to be recognized by anyone else.

What Bastien doesn't expect is how eccentric Broustal and his wife are. During this weekend Bastien finds himself feeding Broustal's pet vultures, dressing up as a rabbit, and potentially burying a dead body among many other weird behaviors which the Broustals don't think are strange at all. Throughout it all Bastien tries to bring things back to reality in hopes of pitching his ideas but is usurped time and again as the Broustals expect him pretty much to be a jester to entertain the very bored, rich couple. He contiues to allow himself to be manipulated in worse and worse ways in order to hopefully get something in return, but we see that is not going to happen.

The movie seems to have a pretty American feel in its elements such as the reality shows or its ambitious protagonist. It is obvious to us Bastien is way over his head although he keeps trying to force the Broustals to act like normal people. We see Bastien is not the first "jester" the Broustals have entertained and tired of before. But the way the film ends doesn't make sense to me and I don't get what the meaning of the ending is to Bastien's character. Perhaps Bastien's plight is a metaphor for life, or an extreme and satirical comment of how the entertainment industry works.