Mercato: the masterclass of Jamel Debbouze (critic)
A jriller roundly led and documented behind the scenes of the football world, carried by the sparkling composition of finesse and accuracy of Jamel Debbouze.
Football and cinema have rarely set out well. The fault mainly has an inability to hoist the images of matches in terms of TV retransmissions. Except to shift things like in Shaolin Soccer. Or, as here, to move away from the field to tell behind the scenes. Transfer window Concentrates in fact on this period of transfers where players have the right to change clubs and on tight negotiations between the agents who represent them and the managers of the teams ready to sell or acquire them.
His central character is one of those agents, Driss, an essential one yesterday whose star has pale and who, summoned to bring together an important sum of money to purify his debts, has 7 days to achieve his ends by carrying out the transfer of ‘One of his players, whom he has always taken care of. Transfer window is therefore lived as a thriller all the more engaging as it relies on a picky knowledge of the football world, populated by situations echoing real anecdotes on its functioning dominated by the money flowing with waves.
But the other major asset of Transfer window is the one who initiated it and embodies Driss. Jamel Debbouze, in one of his most striking compositions. He makes you forget the slag of the film (the character of his son a little too written like the moral look overlooking what happens) by his ability to translate both humanity and the cuff of his character, without ever falling in the trap of doing his Tchao Pantin. A masterclass.
Of Tristan Séguéla. With Jamel Debbouze, Monia Chokri, Hakim Jemili … Duration 2h. Release on February 19, 2025
