Nicolas Pariser makes solid, philosophically absorbed films — like “The Great Game” and “Alice and the Mayor” — that make no apologies for engaging with social and political trends. Classically directed and always well-cast, they appeal to audiences, specifically French and Francophile ones, who like listening to conversations that many will characterize as intellectual tennis matches. However, with “One Minute to Midnight,” starring the always watchable Melvil Poupaud as a former hotshot journalist who lost his ambition, Pariser’s baldly didactic dialogue gets the better of him.
It’s not that the discussions — often better categorized as monologues — are uninteresting. Examining how new-generation feminism has changed the discourse is a worthwhile pursuit, and Lord knows making men realize that their behavior from 20 years ago did not exactly foster equitable relations between the sexes is a necessary corrective. (Though let’s face it, the lesson is still being learned.) The problem with “One Minute to Midnight” is that there’s little to it apart from these increasingly repetitive lectures, whose manifest didacticism creates resistance: It’s like being at a dinner party where the guests spend the whole evening explaining that Donald Trump is ruining America. We agree, but can we sprinkle the conversation with something else?
