Full disclosure: I have been a fan of Call My Agent! since 2015, when I saw the first two episodes at a small festival in Brides-les-bains, a spa town in the French Alps. The event was organised by agent-turned-producer Dominique Besnehard, who was showing the episodes ahead of their first airing on French TV.

Having spent eight years getting the project off the ground, Besnehard was anxious to know whether French audiences would like it. They did. The series ran for four seasons, was picked up by Netflix and critically well-received. It won several French TV awards and an International Emmy, with its formula later reproduced in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain among others. Now comes the movie.

In the series, written by talented showrunner Fanny Herrero who also wrote the film, we observe the workings of Parisian casting agency ASK (modelled on Artmedia, where Besnehard worked) in light comedy mode. Agents match “the talent” with film projects, while coping with actorly egos, affairs, meltdowns and tantrums. The series’ key trick was to mix the fictional agency staff with real-life celebrities making fun of themselves.

Many major stars were reluctant to join the first series. There was no Catherine Deneuve or Gérard Depardieu,........

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