Can a black man in a hoodie become president of France? That’s why it spans six episodes in delicious comedy And place. Handheld camera, slang, lots of rap. The setting is Bobigny, an ugly concrete suburb of Paris. Stéphane Blé is a 40-year-old youth worker, the son of Ivorian parents, who is trying to have a child with his wife through IVF. His life takes an unexpected turn when he interrupts the white, corrupt mayor (starring role of Benoît Poelvoorde) during a speech in the street. Blé speaks simple but striking language and appears to express the voice of the people well. He makes the news and attracts the attention of a shady campaign strategist who sees something in Blé as a presidential candidate. Blé à l’Elysee!
Blé hesitates for a while, but then thinks: “You have to dream big!” (‘Il faut rever grand!‘). His wife is not enthusiastic, but Blé wants to stand up for the poor, the people in the suburbs, and has a plan: free organic food for everyone! Mangez bien, pour rien. His team: an eloquent and highly educated Muslim woman with hijab; a neighborhood boy with bad friends; the campaign strategist who makes sneaky phone calls to a right-wing presidential candidate.
And place is a series by Jean-Pascal Zadi (1980), who also plays the lead role. Zadi was originally a rapper but already directed his first documentary in 2005, about French rap. After that he made a number of feature films such as African Gangster (2010) and in 2020 he won a César (French Oscar) for his leading role in the comedy Tout simplement noirwhich he also directed.
Prejudices
His series debut And place is a sharp political satire that cuts French society. As underprivileged as young people from the poor suburbs are, so arrogant and depraved are the political class. It is about the racism that Blé has to deal with, but also about his own prejudices. For example, he asks the driving force behind his campaign, the smart and brutal Muslim woman, if she would like to stop wearing the headscarf. “Good,” she says, “if you stop being black!”
Does Ble have a chance? What seems unlikely suddenly comes a lot closer when hackers empty the computers of the big candidates. They then succumbed to scandal, leaving only two candidates: Blé and the far-left candidate of ‘eco-feminism’, a lesbian who speaks seven languages and grows her own vegetables. She is not popular with ordinary French people. Would it still work: Blé in the Élysée?
And place It is nicely written with lots of witty jokes. For a moment you think: how long will this be fun? But it remains funny and just not too unbelievable, to the point grand debate on television between the two presidential candidates, where the satire overflows and Zadi falls together with Blé. After this crazy debacle comes And place yet again on its feet, culminating in a visit by Blé to a crêpe festival in the province.
Because Blé wants to be there for all citizens of forgotten France, in the banlieue and in the countryside. His catchphrase? Liberté, Egalité, Fraternite. Anyone who hears him utter those words, in his hooded sweater, realizes once again, despite the funny tone of the series: many French people do not notice that the republic is, or should be, based on the values of the French revolution.
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