I suspect that the French director, co-writer and actor Yvan Attal managed to magically steal one of our family’s favorite jokes for his film ‘Ils sont partout‘ (2016). This is exactly how, in French, my wife and I have reacted for decades now when encountering any of the stereotypes about Jews. Same as we do, everyone says ‘They are everywhere: Jews and their friends when they boast about the lists of Nobel prizes and other achievements of talented Jews, but also anti-Semites when it comes to looking for scapegoats for all the evils of world. ‘Ils sont partout‘ is right this – a film about stereotypes related to Jews, some anecdotal, others stupid, which depending on the circumstances can be a source of humor of better or worse quality, but also one of the manifestations of that form of racism that produced so much suffering throughout history: anti-Semitism. ‘Ils sont partout‘ compiles a collection of such stereotypes and exemplifies them in a series of comical mini-episodes. The approach is sarcastic and full of humor directed against prejudices, without avoiding aspects from within the Jewish community and life. But the main target is clear and the film is – unfortunately – even more relevant today than in 2016. The title in the English distribution is much less funny – simply ‘The Jews‘.
The link between the different episodes is pseudo-autobiographical. After a theatre performance, Yvan Attal is accosted in a bar by an excited spectator who asks him about his religion, intrigued by the fact that the actor had refused to order an alcoholic drink as a treat. Confronted with the vulgarity of the man he met by chance, the hero of the film asks himself questions about his own Jewishness: what does it mean to be Jewish for a French man, atheist, completely culturally integrated? Serious question, for which he will resort to the services of a psychoanalyst. The answer is the collection of episodes which, however, avoids any moralizing direction and urges its viewers to think hard. A few examples: the husband of a far-right politician (any resemblance to real politicians…) discovers upon the death of his maternal grandmother that she was Jewish, which makes him technically Jewish too; a French president who bears a striking resemblance to François Hollande decides to put to a referendum the decision that all French citizens convert to Judaism; the Mossad sends an agent into the past to prevent the birth of Jesus in order to destroy the ‘Jews killed the Messiah’ stereotype; etc. Not all episodes are on the same level or tackle the same kind of humor. Some episodes will upset some people, other will upset others, a few will upset everybody. But if the satire doesn’t offend, then it probably isn’t sharp enough.
I liked ‘Ils sont partout‘, and not just because the identity issues it tackles are familiar to me. A formidable gallery of well-known French actors (and not just actors) participated in this project and their performances are delicious, even if some of them only appear only in one scene. First of all Yvan Attal himself, the psychologist Tobie Nathan as … the psychologist, Benoît Poelvoorde, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Denis Podalydès, Gilles Lellouche, the television journalist Claire Chazal. Several well-known Israeli actors also collaborate: Romanian-born theater man Niko Nitai in his last screen appearance, Rivka Michaeli, Ilan Dar. I laughed at this movie which deals with a very serious topic. The film is about Jews, but the issues it raises and even the stereotypes it satirizes are not unique and exist in one form or another in any discrimination against ethnic, racial, or religious minorities. We are everywhere.