Reporters

A day-by-day account of events covered by photo-journalists from Depardon's own Gamma agency during October 1980. The journos are all male, all youngish and, unstereotypically, not pickled in cynicism and self-loathing. But give them time, you feel, as they turn up to play their assigned roles in the coverage of the hackneyed state ceremonials, celebrity press conferences and cheesy photo-ops for dodgy politicians. Even more dismal and ignominious are the stalkings and stakeouts (of Princess Caroline, Philippe De Gaulle). Without knowing what was left out, it's rash to compliment Depardon on his 'objectivity', but his film comes across as an accurate-seeming job description that is unlikely to stir journalistic ambition in many viewers' breasts.