Adults in the Room (Greek: Ενήλικοι στην αίθουσα, romanized: Enílikoi stin aíthousa) is a 2019 French-Greek political film directed by Costa-Gavras. It is based on the book Adults in the Room: My Battle with Europe's Deep Establishment by Yanis Varoufakis about the 2015 Greek bailout. It is Gavras' first feature film that was shot in Greece.
Contents
Plot
In 2015, following Syriza's victory in that year's Greek parliamentary election, Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis is tasked by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to negotiate a new deal on the memorandum of understanding signed by previous government with the Troika in order to avoid facing another inevitable debt crisis in the country months later. However, throughout successive meetings of the Eurogroup, Varoufakis' proposals are only met with flat refusals from the Troika. With constant threats from the European institution of an eviction of Greece from the Eurozone if their demands are not met, Tsipras is forced to sign the MoU, going against the 62% of the population that rejected the bailouts by voting "No" in the 2015 Greek bailout referendum. Varoufakis then resigns, five months after taking office.
Cast
Christos Loulis: Yanis Varoufakis
Alexandros Bourdoumis: Alexis Tsipras
Ulrich Tukur: Wolfgang Schäuble
Daan Schuurmans: Jeroen Dijsselbloem
Dimitris Tarloou: Euclide Tsakalotos
Josiane Pinson: Christine Lagarde
Valeria Golino: Danae Stratou
Aurélien Recoing: Pierre Moscovici
Vincent Nemeth: Michel Sapin
Francesco Acquaroli: Mario Draghi
George Lenz: Head of the Troika
Philip Schurer: George Osborne
Damien Mougin: Emmanuel Macron
Alexandros Logothetis: Mános
Christos Stergioglou: Sákis
Cornelius Obonya: Wims
Thanos Tokakis: Yórgos
Maria Protopappa: Elena
Themis Panou: Siágas
Kostas Antalopoulos: press contact for Wolfgang Schäuble
Skyrah Archer: Eurogroup secretary
Marina Argyropolo: Fenia
Georges Corraface: Greek ambassador to France
Giannis Dalianis
Adrian Frieling: Lithuanian minister of Finances
Release
The film was selected to play out of competition at the 76th Venice International Film Festival.
Reception
Jessica Kiang of Variety wrote, "Far too many adults, in far too many rooms, have far too many repetitive conversations about the arcane ins-and-outs of EU policymaking in Costa-Gavras’ maddeningly unfocused 'Adults in the Room.'"
Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "For those interested in how the EU sausage is made — a process that Costa-Gavras mines both for its theatricality and seeming inanity — the film can be a gripping piece of infotainment, even if it runs long at 124 minutes. Others may shy away from so many administrative details, but they will be missing out on a movie that tries to cut through all the red tape and explore the human travails behind the protocols."