The deputy for Somme is releasing a new documentary which features a lawyer who attacks “welfare”, immersed in the daily life of minimum wage employees. After several politically complicated months, the film also has the merit of putting François Ruffin back in the saddle.
A film to get back on track. Relatively discreet since his breakup with Jean-Luc Mélenchon last September, François Ruffin makes his return to the cinema with At work. With a double hope: that of repeating the feat of the cardboard Thanks boss but also to succeed in embodying a new voice for the left.
In this documentary, the deputy who now sits among the ecologists in the Assembly features the lawyer Sarah Saldmann, long-time columnist of RMC's Grandes Mouches and critic of “la France des feignasses” who shares for several days the daily life of workers .
A film in the form of a “super political argument”
Delivery driver, carer, cleaning lady, farmer, waiter, worker in a fish packing factory… The lawyer, rather accustomed to nice neighborhoods, joins them at their workplace and joins them in the exercise of their profession, often physically arduous.
On the menu: “anger” when some of the people filmed hear that the lawyer is buying “watches for 50,000 euros and sandwiches for 54 euros” but also “social revenge” and “a right of reply ” for “the heroes of the film” as François Ruffin explains, on a promotional tour.
In other words, a political manifesto for the MP who notably fiercely defended in the National Assembly the increase in salaries for carers, cleaners and Accompanying Students with Disabilities (AESH).
“This film gives us a great political argument. It helps enormously to show the reality of millions of French people who we rarely see on television or in the cinema,” greets LFI deputy Christophe Bex, who remains close to François Ruffin.
The hope of a hit at the box office
The film's distributor – Jour2fête – is betting big: At work is distributed in nearly 150 sales outlets – a major launch for a film which will mainly be shown in arthouse cinemas. With the hope for the former journalist to make a comeback Thanks Boss. This film, in the vein of those of American filmmaker Michael Moore, awarded the César for best documentary in 2017, had reached 500,000 admissions.
The man who was not yet a deputy but editor-in-chief of Fakir magazine set out to try to meet Bernard Arnault, the boss of LVMH. With a mission: to discuss with him the situation of a couple, both laid off by a subcontractor of the luxury group who had preferred to relocate its production of luxury suits to Poland.
Enough to allow him to capitalize on his notoriety to launch into the legislative battle in Amiens, helped by the closure of the Whirpool site, which has become an issue in the 2017 presidential campaign.
Since then, François Ruffin has gone through prosperous periods – the success of Macron's party in 2018, a “festive” demonstration against the president, or his re-election to a chair in 2022 – and more difficult times.
“A bubble of air” after complicated months
From his departure from the La France insoumise group in the summer or his victory in the legislative elections last July, after being 7 points behind the RN candidate in the first round, the founder of Picardie Debout has been weakened in recent months .
The MP is now looking for his place on the left. With several polls placing him in the lead among supporters alongside Raphaël Glucksmann, François Ruffin hopes to embody the alliance between what he calls “the France of the towns” and “the France of the towers”.
Understand: rural and peri-urban France as well as neighborhood France, far from the strategy of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who wishes to concentrate his forces on “youth and working-class neighborhoods”.
“He’s giving himself a good breath of fresh air with this film, that’s for sure. It’s definitely nourishing to meet a lot of people,” recognizes Christophe Bex.
A film, “not a program” for LFI
And perhaps enough to give him ideas for the future. Questioned several times about a possible candidate on the left in 2027, the deputy for the Somme had until now turned his back.
“I am preparing, with others, for a card to be placed on the table. Let's jump the hurdles one after the other”, François Ruffin spoke last spring on RTL, without however closing the door.
“That’s the film he’s making. Well, after all, that doesn’t make for a program,” a rebellious elected official already puts things into perspective.
