Butler's Cinema Scene

The cast of “Call My Agent!”

“CALL MY AGENT!” My rating: B  (Netflix)

“Call My Agent!” unfolds in a Paris agency representing the cream of French film and television talent.

The gimmick of this French comedy series is that every episode features a guest star, a real-life legend — we’re talking Juliette Binoche, Christopher Lambert, Sigourney Weaver, Jean Dujarden, Isabelle Huppert, Jean Reno —  playing spoiled, temperamental, insecure, misbehaving versions of themselves.

But the real subject of Fanny Herrero’s 24-episode (over four seasons) creation is lying.

The ever-scrambling agents who populate the ASK offices are forever lying to their clients, to their loved ones and to each other.  It’s a requirement of the job, rarely done in malice, and often to protect the fragile feelings of the pampered stars to whom they owe their livings.

But be assured that no lie — no matter how creative or outrageous — remains unexposed for long.

Here’s the thing: despite their problematic relationship with the truth, the characters here quickly win us over.  Herrero and her co-creators have given us personalities that we quickly glom onto. They’re witty and driven and creative, and it’s a thrill to be around them.

Moreover, the series does a terrific job of exploring these different personalities over four seasons. Characters who at first seem mere background figures will at some point emerge as the center of their own episodes and story arcs.

There are too many interesting figures here to explore them all, but here’s a thumbnail analysis of the most important:

Andrea Martel (played by Camille Cottin):  This cutthroat agent and predatory lesbian has to re-evalute her existence when she finds herself pregnant after an impetuous three-way.

Mathias Barneville (Thibault de Montalembert): The head of ASK is sauve and cultured.  Except that in the first episode he gets an unexpected complication — the arrival of Camille (Fanny Sidney), the twenty-something lovechild of his long-ago extramarital affair.  He gives his daughter a job (she’s the most principled person on site) but struggles to keep his wife ignorant of his infidelity.

Ariette Azemar (Liliane Rovere):  The grande dame of the outfit, who’s seen and heard just about everything.  She’s constantly accompanied by her lapdog Jean Gabin (and if you appreciate that bit of name dropping, you’ll love just about everything about this series).

Sigourney Weaver, Fanny Sidney

Gabriel Sarda (Gregory Montel): This perennially disheveled nebbish has a way of digging ethical holes he can’t crawl out of. In moments of stress he binges on whipped cream straight from the aerosol can. So much for the cultured French palate.

Herve Andre-Jezak (Nicolas Maury): The requisite office gay is desperate to rise to the level of full-fledged agent. Weirdly enough, movie stardom seems to be his fate.

Noemie Leclerc (Laure Calamy): Mathias’ neurotic Girl Friday is desperately (and secretly) in love with her boss; perhaps no other character  goes through so many changes over the course of the show.

Crammed with delicious behind-the-scenes eavesdropping on film and television production, not to mention a riotous entire episode that unfolds at the Cannes International Film Festival — the series is a cinema geek’s wet dream.

And of course there’s no shortage of action on the streets of Paris.

Simultaneously cynical and empathetic, “Call My Agent!” is perfect binge watching. You’ll be sorry when it’s over.

| Robert W. Butler