The Party’s Over! is a French-language film that starts out as a cliché narrative of upper class taking advantage of lower class, and ends with a storyline of bloodshed that is anything but. Mehdi (Sami Outalbali) and his girlfriend Garance (Noée Abita) are holidaying in the South of France with Garance’s parents as per their annual tradition. From the beginning, the film juxtaposes the elaborate villa and expensive lifestyle of Garance’s family—the Trousselards—with the modest home and laborious work of the caretakers, Tony Azizi (Ramzy Bedia), Nadine Azizi (Laure Calamy) and their daughter Marylou (Mahia Zrouki). 

Garance’s father, prestigious Parisian lawyer Philippe (Laurent Lafitte), repeatedly peppers his speech with Latin maxims, highlighting the intellectual superiority he believes separates him and his family from the “less-educated” Azizis. Meanwhile, Garance’s mother, the once-famous actress Laurence de Préville (Élodie Bouchez), never lifts a finger but always has something to say about the way her house is cleaned. Coupled with the humiliation of sewerage pouring on Tony, and Philippe’s harsh remarks when Tony is cleaning his car, the tension reaches a breaking point when a financial dispute over the Azizis' employment exposes years of simmering resentment and class inequality.

In the absence of fast-paced plots, French films typically offer deep character studies. This rang true for Mehdi, who finds himself caught between the two families, both on the poster and in the film. He must grapple with the tension between his modest upbringing and his desire to climb the social ladder via an internship at Phillipe’s law firm. Due to this social dissonance, Mehdi is a wedged puzzle piece that attempts to place himself amongst both families, but ultimately cannot fit in due to socioeconomic differences. 

The other main characters were not as fully fleshed out as the protagonist. While the film tries to offer a diplomatic view of both sides, I struggled to empathise with the Trousselards, who continuously belittled and expected the Azizis at their beck and call. It attempts to present both families as equally morally compromised, yet spends much of its runtime encouraging the audience to sympathise with the Azizis while portraying the Trousselards as patronising and exploitative. The tagline “Do not mix!” was particularly interesting. While it is a play on words, as the poster features the cast in a cocktail glass, it also alludes to the mixture of the two families and how catastrophic this becomes once the “party” of civility is over.

Outalbali gives a thoughtful and contemplative performance that effectively conveys Mehdi’s internal conflicts, a contrast to the parents of the two families, who bring excellent comedic timing to the film. Lafitte commands every scene through his confident portrayal of Philippe and—despite the character’s astonishing levels of arrogance—his humour and wit make him an entertaining character. The tension between the families felt organic and lived-in, making the wacky hijinks all the more believable. I was particularly touched by Garance and Marylou’s interactions. Whilst their romance at the end of the film was a surprise, their chemistry really sold this new narrative. 

Despite the uneven plot, the film was ripe with hilarious moments and witty French comedy, which hit even harder as a French speaker. The film’s hilarity can almost obscure its ideological contradictions. However, the drastic turn in the last 20 minutes when Mehdi is shot is jarring. When Mehdi dies, the two families work together to settle their financial dispute and cover up his death. Not only was this an extreme turn of events plot-wise, but the twist deviated from the previously established theme. Seemingly, the film is offering a commentary on how money really is the “root of all evil”, persuading people of any class to shed their morals in its favour. This commentary would have been much clearer and more effective had it been the central narrative of the film, rather than an unprecedented twist. As a French cinema lover, I am no stranger to the abruptness of their endings, but the film's final act was at odds with everything that preceded it.

The film is at its strongest when unveiling and examining the complexities of both social classes, pointing out the two families’ unbalanced yet truthful flaws. Although the final act stumbles, the film remains a humorous and sometimes thought-provoking exploration of class disparity and struggle. Ultimately, it leaves us with a shocking outcome that everyone has to clean up when the party’s over.