In a busy family-planning center in Paris, women from all walks of life and of all ages seek help, many torn apart by decisions they have made or are about to make. The director adopts a near-documentary style by centering the action within poignant counseling sessions. Featuring a cast of veteran French actresses (Nathalie Baye, Nicole Garcia, Isabelle Carré, and Béatrice Dalle) as the advisors and nonprofessional actors as the clients, God’s Offices sensitively portrays the complexities of women’s sexual and reproductive rights. 2008, video, in French with English subtitles, 122 minutes.
Claire Simon
began her career as an editor, and in 1988 she stepped behind the camera to make her first short fiction film. Her award-winning documentaries include Les Patients (1989), Recreation (Récréations) (which was screened at the Walker in 2002), and Coûte que coûte (1996). Her first feature, A Foreign Body (Sinon, Oui) (1997), was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. She shot the part fiction/part documentary That’s Just Like You (Ca c’est vraiment toi) (2000) with students from the National Theater School in Strasbourg. Her filmography also includes Mimi (2003), 800 km de difference/romance (2002), and the fictional Ça brûle (2006). To prepare for God’s Offices, Simon worked for three months in a family-planning center.