Quai d'Orsay

This minister, Alexandre Taillard de Vorms, is a youthful, good-looking, and ambitious man whose energy is often directed in the most inane and futile directions. His long-suffering staff has to clean up the messes left in his wake; meanwhile, a new young speechwriter is given a crash course in how to make sense of the meaningless gibberish that comes from his boss's mouth. Trips to Africa, crises in Ludmenistan, speeches at the UN, and meetings in Berlin rub up against anchovy disputes with the Spanish, while quotes from Heraclitus add a timeless element to the modern political folly. QUAI D'ORSAY is gleeful enjoyment and wicked in intent and effect. (Toronto International Film Festival)