How François Ruffin uses “Au travail” to try to return to the top of the political agenda

POLITICS – Autumn has a taste of rebirth for François Ruffin. Narrowly re-elected, thanks to the withdrawal of the Macronist candidate in the June legislative elections, the deputy from the Somme remained discreet. But it is to better return at the beginning of November in a role that he particularly likes: co-director, with Gilles Perret, of his new film Get to work! at the cinema since this Wednesday.

The synopsis is known. In February 2023, François Ruffin launches a challenge to Sarah Saldmann, lawyer but above all chronicler of Big Mouths on RMC and who does not have harsh enough words against the “assisted »: live for one month on minimum wage. It will ultimately be a few days, summarized in 1h30 of a film which overplays the contrast between the media lawyer evolving in a wealthy environment and the people “broken”, says François Ruffin himself.

The feature film opens with Sarah Saldmann, from behind and dressed all in black, stiletto heels and a little dog – Triumph, we learn in the credits – on a bridge in Paris. A few shots later, there she is (still in heels) in the shoes of a delivery driver. Then in a food processing company packaging smoked fish. Then on a farm – terrorized by the cows being penned. Then in an integration center in a Zero unemployment region. The caricature makes you laugh as well as cry. Emotion dominates when Sarah Saldmann experiences the difficulties but also the joys of the job of care assistant. Also when Nathalie, made redundant at 45, on disability and unemployed for a long time, expressed her joy at having found a job as a chambermaid and being able to give in turn to the Restos du Cœur.

A “political manifesto” for “the real heroes”

Sarah Saldmann gradually disappears from the film. François Ruffin had explained this beforehand, evoking a “moral rupture because of Gaza”. On screen, the quarrel is mentioned in an almost anecdotal manner, in a short dialogue with Gilles Perret where the MP literally brushes aside the columnist's threats of legal action. Sarah Saldmann was never the heart of the project. Just an excuse: “Yes, that was the goal, that we would end up not seeing her anymore,” the MP assumes in an interview appearing in the project's press kit.

The objective is elsewhere and Ruffin recognizes it without flinching. As for Thanks Boss! or Stand up, Women!, Get to work! shows the daily life of the French “that we don’t hear on TV sets or on radio waves”THE ” real heroes » as the chosen one presents them.

He takes it straight on France Inter on November 4. His film, which is reminiscent of his “Live my life” amendments in 2017, is as much a “fantasy object” than a “political object”. “There is something of the order of a political manifesto”he declares. A few hours later on C to you, he goes further and supports Patrick Cohen's comparison between his film and a political program: yes, the film testifies to his political project, “without saying it, but showing it. »

“What do you have in the movie?” A united, human, fraternal France. You know how central work is to my design. I consider that today the left has a duty to heroize the caregiver, the handler. Not just by saying “The minimum wage is 1,600 euros” but by giving names, first names, places, professions. I’m not just coming to say “this is what should have been done”, but I’m coming to do it.”. The message is clear: they speak, he acts. This is called advancing your pawns.

Turn the page

Because the fourth film by deputy of the Somme is also the way to turn the page on a harsh political sequence. On the evening of the European elections (and the dissolution pronounced by Emmanuel Macron), it is François Ruffin who takes the spotlight by calling for the New Popular Front. The entire left supports it, but the divorce with LFI is not far away and the person concerned fades away. In any case, the negotiations on the program and the nominations are carried out between feathered leaders. He's not one, and he even tends to mess around with the ” slingers » rebellious. Which doesn't stop him, from a distance, from banging his fist on the table.

The outgoing deputy protests against the investiture of Adrien Quatennens and refuses that of the Mélenchonist party. The first round of June 30 is a slap in the face: here he is ahead of the RN candidate by 7 points. Between the two rounds, he formalized the break with Jean-Luc Mélenchon by making it known that in the event of re-election, he would not sit on the rebellious benches. He finally regains his mandate but what follows is an obstacle course: for having accused LFI of carrying out “facies campaigns”he was whistled at the Fête de l'Humanité and described by his former colleagues as “Ghost of Doriot”a communist leader who later served in Nazi uniform. Atmosphere.

Since then, François Ruffin has been discreet. In the Assembly, where he sits in the Ecologist and Social group, the deputy only spoke four times, according to the count on the institution's website, and only once in session. On … But also a lot on his tour for his film.

Marseille, Abbeville, Cachan, Grigny where a sequence ofGet to work! was filmed… These trips are an opportunity to exchange views and show off alongside the mayor or elected officials of the district. Regardless of their political affiliation – within the limits of the left. Thus, François Ruffin poses alongside the mayor of the Phocaean city Benoît Payan, the Nantes councilor Johanna Rolland close to Olivier Faure and number 2 of the PS, the LFI deputy Christophe Bex, the Générations deputy Sophie Taillé-Polian, the communist Nicolas Sansu…

On November 2, François Ruffin claimed 12,000 spectators for his film, which has not yet been released in theaters. The previews are sold out, according to publications on social networks. And they are reminiscent of meetings before their time. Monday, November 4, an Ifop poll for Sud Radio placed François Ruffin as the personality who “ best embodies the left » for left-wing supporters/voters (61%), a hair ahead of MEP Raphaël Glucksmann (60%). What to encourage him for 2027? The promotion of his film is in any case the perfect opportunity to take one more step on the path to the presidential election.

Also see on The HuffPost: