As far back as I can remember, I always loved the movies. Some of my fondest memories are of going to the movies or watching them at home. I’m fascinated by movies and the people who make them. I love behind-the-scenes movies like Day For Night, 8 1/2, and Living in Oblivion. I know I’ll never get to make a movie so watching how they are made is a little treat.
Buy Call My Agent!: The Complete Series DVDCall My Agent or Dix Por Cent (Ten Percent), if you prefer the original French title, is a French comedy series about an aspect of filmmaking that doesn’t often get portrayed: the talent agent. It follows the lives of four agents at the fictional ASK Agency and their assistance as they handle crisis after crisis that comes from both their famous clientele and their own personal lives. Originally developed for France 2 TV, it was picked up by Netflix in its second season, and now MHZ Choice has combined the complete series for this DVD set.
At the end of the pilot episode, Samuel Kerr (Alain Rimoux), the founder and largest shareholder of the agency, dies when swallowing a wasp while on vacation. This sends the entire agency and everyone involved with it into a tailspin, something that becomes pretty much the norm for everyone as the seasons progress. They’ll need to find a financial backer, and the agents will vie for control and leadership of the agency.
Each episode focuses on the life of a single agent (though the others are always swirling about on the sidelines) and one of their clients (including such A-list French celebrities as Audrey Fleurot, Juliett Binoche, Monica Bellucci, and Jean Reno.) The celebrities play themselves, or a knowing, exaggerated version of themselves to hilarious results. Audrey Fleurot is a working mother who refuses to hire a nanny and keeps up with all the latest parenting trends only to realize she is unfulfilled and utterly exhausted. Monica Belluci, one of the sexiest women to ever exist, announces she’s tired of dating rich, beautiful, famous men and wants someone down to Earth even though she doesn’t even know how to boil water.
The celebrities might bring you to the show, but you’ll stay for the agents and their assistants. Andréa Martel (Camille Cottin) is the lesbian firecracker who often lets her no-nonsense, spur-of-the-moment lifestyle sabotage her work. Mathias Barneville (Thibault de Montalembert) is the workhorse who will do anything to get ahead. He had an affair some 20 years prior which produced a daughter, Camille Valentini (Fanny Sidney), who shows up in the pilot essentially just to reassert herself into her absentee father’s life, but she quickly becomes Andréa’s assistant. Gabriel Sarda (Grégory Montel) is the goofy, disheveled, but ultimately kind agent. Arlette Azémar (Liliane Rovère), the oldest and most experienced of the group, is typically happy to watch the chaos ensuing around her whist periodically offering a bit of good advice.
Much of Season One’s drama stems from the fallout from Samuel Kerr’s death. Some celebrities find new agents and there isn’t enough money to support everyone in the agency. At the beginning of Season Two, they are bought out by Hicham Janowski (Assaad Bouab), the uber-rich bro who knows absolutely nothing about being an agent but runs the place like he is their Lord and Master.
There are times when it becomes a little too soap-opera-ish for my tastes. Those moments I find myself yelling at the screen, “No, you should not sleep with your assistant,” or “Definitely don’t sabotage your girlfriend’s career because you a jealous of her director.” But then sometimes I’m secretly wishing he would let Monica Bellucci seduce him. I’m only human after all.
Mostly the show is ridiculously funny and a joy to watch. There is enough interconnected drama from episode to episode that you’ll want to watch it from start to finish (and likely in large doses of binge-watching) but it isn’t so detailed that you’d be lost if you popped a random episode on. My wife had previously watched the series and she jumped for joy when I showed her this DVD set. As I put on the first episode and the series’s theme music came on, she was bobbing with excited energy. Now that I’ve watched most of it (I was only able to watch 2.5 seasons before having to write this review) I know exactly how she feels.
This set includes all four seasons of Call My Agent with three episodes per disc. There are no extras or supplemental materials.
