The Deal: geopolitics as if you were there (review)

A fascinating Arte series which goes behind the scenes of the Iranian nuclear negotiations in 2015. A geopolitical thriller full of twists and turns.

A few weeks after the American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites (in June 2025), The Deal arrives as an edifying exploration of a past which failed to deliver on its promises.

A dive into the time of negotiations, when, in Geneva, in April 2015, Iran – suspected of secretly developing atomic weapons – tried to calm the revolt that was brewing within its population, by negotiating with America for a relaxation of sanctions.

Around the table: an Iranian foreign minister held on a leash by the terrifying Revolutionary Guards. Opposite, an American deputy secretary of state from the Obama era, determined to secure a prestigious agreement. Sailing around, the European Union is desperate to exert influence. And, in the background, China and Russia are watching, as if to ensure that neither power will truly emerge victorious.

At first glance, the subject seems complex. In a Geneva palace, it is a closed session of pure realpolitik that Jean-Stéphane Bron, Swiss filmmaker, and Frenchwoman Alice Winocour, César-winning screenwriter of Mustang (2015) and director of Revoir Paris (2022), have woven. A diplomatic series going behind the scenes of the Iranian nuclear negotiations, yes, on paper, it’s austere. And yet, the authors have managed to make it a thrilling thriller, with tasty twists and turns.

At the center of the game, the formidable Veerle Baetens (recently seen in Oriental Plain on Canal+) walks with determined steps through this luxury hotel, on the banks of Lake Geneva, going from one room to another, shenanigans in the corridors and private lounges, fully assuming her role as Swiss protocol officer with neutrality… quite relative.

Because The Deal obviously has this desire to show what happens behind closed doors – all the complexity of the diplomatic process. But what it mainly manages to do – with more or less subtlety – is to show that diplomatic reality is intimately linked to the throes of the personal lives of those who lead it. In other words, there are people with their concerns, their stories, around the table. And what we perceive through a news column as a cold exchange of bureaucrats, a codified and almost mechanical circus, in fact conceals a burning drama. Or how to make geopolitics more human, and thus exciting.

The Deal, in 6 episodes, watch in full now on Arte.tv and next Thursday, October 23 and 30 in prime time on Arte.