The Fracture tells us the story of a group of people that nothing brings together who end up in the hospital emergency room during a Yellow Vests demonstration that goes wrong. A demonstrator injured by the police (Pio Marmaï, perfect),a middle-class couple in the process of separating (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Marina Foïs),and of course the medical staff around them.

Many themes are addressed: the demands of the yellow vests, the functioning and difficulties of a hospital emergency unit, the states of mind of Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (brilliant in the interpretation of a selfish and unbearable character). By confronting a yellow vest injured by the police with a bourgeois woman with existential problems regarding the existence of her couple that can seem completely outdated compared to what is happening around between the police smoke and bludgeon the Yellow Vests and the other patients in the emergency room. The film is pretty good in its component of not favoring one side over the other or at least developing the characters well from each point of view.

So it's a rather realistic social film, not necessarily subtle, but it gets its messages across clearly and asks some questions. This is one of its important virtues. It is perfect for provoking debate. On the technical components, there is nothing to say. The actors are good with all the pathos their characters carry.

Using a good metaphor in the title and the story, this typically French social drama depicts France of the late 2010's and early 20's, the yellow jackets crisis and hospital structural, financial problems, the difficulties that doctors and nurses have to face to do their job properly. Social fracture illustrated thru a broken leg and elbow, excellent metaphor. The main problem here is the comedy line, too devastating to permit any tension or even emotion. But acting is flawless, especially concerning Marina Fois and Valeria Bruni; the Yellow Jacket character is however a bit overplayed, too much to be realistic. I could not resume this movie till the end, precisely because of those comedy lines.

Seen at the 2021 London Film Festival, 'La fracture' (English title: 'The Divide') would be very much at home on the stage, as it is mostly set in one location (a Paris hospital emergency department) in which a small group of characters play out their stories while confrontations between Gilets Jaunes protestors and the police take place outside - confrontations which eventually threaten the safety of the hospital itself and those in it.

The long-term relationship of lesbian couple Raphaëlle (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) and Julie (Marina Foïs) is on the rocks when Raphaëlle damages her elbow, putting her career as a cartoonist in jeopardy ("It looks like a knee on my elbow!" she wails when she sees the swelling). Truck driver Yann (Pio Marmaï, as grubbily sexy as ever) is brought into the hospital with a leg riddled by police bullets and uses much of the time he spends waiting to espouse the Gilets Jaunes' cause. Rounding out the quartet of top-notch leading performances is Aïssatou Diallo Sagna, very convincing as a harrassed but competent nurse (she is, apparently, a medical worker in real life).

This is a very political film and that provokes its weakness - just one point, but a major one: it is extremely one-sided in its sympathy with the Gilets Jaunes' cause. To some, the Gilets are a group of heroes fighting for 'economic justice' and political reforms; to others they are a mob bent on achieving - at best through disruption, at worst through violence - the reversal of political decisions taken by a democratically-elected government that can anyway be voted out at the next election. Discuss! But the film puts forward so heavily the 'heroes' argument that by the time, close to the very end of the film, a police officer comments how scared he has been by the violence - the first time any even remotely anti-Gilets comment is heard - it is as if director/co-writer Catherine Corsini has included that scene merely to refute any allegations she has produced a very long party political broadcast. But by that stage it is far too late - Corsini's colours are nailed very firmly to the mast. Personally, I prefer to be treated as adult enough to make up my own mind, so at least one sympathetic main character putting the French State's case would have been welcome.

Do watch this film - the story is engrossing and the performances are brilliant. But - whatever your political opinions - do not treat it as a documentary!