A Good Boss

A company that manufactures scales should know a thing or two about fairness. This irony provides Un bon patron with a promising foundation, while also highlighting the limitations of this French remake of El buen patrón. Directed by Philippe de Chauveron, the film retains the office intrigues of Fernando León de Aranoa’s original, but tones down the unease that gave the latter’s humor its full force. There is, nonetheless, something instructive about watching a businessman confuse his own interests with the well-being of everyone else. Too often, however, the adaptation treats this confusion as an endearing personal flaw, when it should be the source of a far more scathing joke.

Actor Didier Bourdon plays Antoine Blanchet, the heir to a family business whose quest for an award of excellence is threatened by several troublesome personal issues. A laid-off employee organizes a protest in front of the factory, a foreman’s marital problems disrupt production, and an ambitious intern upsets the established order. The premise is beautifully concise: the boss needs to give the impression of perfect harmony at the very moment when he can no longer control what people do or say. His interventions cause professional authority to encroach on private life, casting suspicion on every apparent act of kindness. The award becomes less a measure of success than an incentive to conceal distress. UGC Distribution

The main challenge lies in the generosity with which the film invites us to interpret its protagonist. Philippe de Chauveron portrays a man whose devious decisions serve the interests of his company rather than stemming from any malice. This distinction is revealing, even if it hardly exonerates him. An employer doesn’t need to take pleasure in harming others for his authority to become destructive; sometimes it’s enough simply for him to believe he’s indispensable. The screenplay, written by Guy Laurent and Philippe de Chauveron, draws on rich source material here, but its preference for easy comic twists weakens the message. We recognize this behavior without being sufficiently unsettled by the freedom that makes it possible.

Behind Didier Bourdon’s portrayal, however, lies a more thoughtful characterization than a categorical rejection of this casting choice would suggest. Didier Bourdon wanted a beard to symbolize modernity, glasses to suggest erudition, and a signet ring to indicate his social status. He even imagined that the glasses might be superfluous, worn in part because the character’s father wore them. It’s a wonderfully revealing hypothesis: authority inherited, then disguised as competence. His familiar comic warmth, however, makes the boss easier to forgive. The ambiguity associated with Javier Bardem in the original is transformed into a less unsettling mix of vanity, meddling, and self-justification.

The factory itself is worth a closer look. Production designer Olivier Seiler set up the workplace inside a former, disused chocolate factory, giving the impression of a manufacturing business that has grown over generations. This detail brings to life the idea of a time-honored institution, with its own customs and hierarchy. The decision to retain the scene involving the scales from the original film was also a wise one: precision is the company’s product, while ad-hoc adjustments govern its human relationships. The set perfectly captures this contradiction. What’s missing is an equally precise dramatic balance—the stronger sense that every laugh reveals something the characters would prefer us not to notice.

At 87 minutes, Un bon patron offers a concise plot and a cast capable of capitalizing on the tensions between pride, resentment, and ambition. These qualities make it more defensible than a blanket condemnation of mainstream French comedy might suggest. However, they do not fully justify revisiting a story whose previous version portrayed paternalism in a more unsettling light. The problem lies less in the decision to make a remake than in the reluctance to explore its implications sufficiently. A boss who refers to his employees as family has already assumed the role of a father; a more incisive film would prompt us to reflect on the difficulty of rejecting that relationship. This version is too quick to settle for its troubled household.

A good boss
Directed by Philippe de Chauveron
Written by Philippe de Chauveron, Guy Laurent
Based on the original screenplay by Fernando León de Aranoa (The Good Boss)
Produced by Romain Rojtman
Starring Didier Bourdon, Catherine Frot, Jean-François Cayrey, François Levantal, Ludmilla von Claer, Patrick Ligardes, Sacko Camara, Samuel Texie
Cinematography : Vincent Mathias
Edited by Sandro Lavezzi
Music by Matthieu Gonet
Production companies : Les Films du Premier, Les Films du 24, TF1 Films Production
Distributed by UGC (France)
Release dates :  November 4, 2026 (France)
Running time : 87 minutes

Viewed on November 10, 2026, at the Gaumont Disney Village, Theater 15, Seat A19