Call My Agent! The Movie Review: For the Love of Cinema

Call My Agent! The Movie | Director: Émilie Noblet | Cast: Camille Cottin, Liliane Rovère | French | Netflix

There is a delicious scene with guest star George Clooney who plays himself and is properly self-deprecatory when the director who is hoping to cast him as her lead tells him honestly that the olive oil he makes at his farm tastes like motor oil. The director’s friend, the producer, tries to treat him to the same level of authenticity, by telling him how terrible his 2014 film The Monuments Men was. You can see Clooney’s affable mask slip and the self-obsessed star replace it. It is a little masterclass in acting and it comes in a movie that celebrates cinema. Based on the popular TV series Call My Agent!, the movie takes off five years after the series ended, with the talent agency ASK in disarray.

The star agent, Andréa Martel (the marvellous Camille Cottin), is now a director and just as shooting is about to start, her lead star walks out, leaving her to work with the unstable Vincent Macaigne, playing himself. Vincent and her female lead, Laetitia Casta, have a history which is not something Andréa knows. Vincent thinks the world is falling apart, Laetitia just wants to complete the movie. An arrest, a flood, a missed insurance claim, a team yearning to get back together. Funny and warm, Call My Agent! The Movie is like meeting old friends for an exceptionally well-lubricated dinner.