28/03/2025 - Jean-Stéphane Bron delivers a sharp and enthralling diplomatic thriller unfolding in the hushed yet tumultuous wings of an international conference on Iranian nuclear power

"It’s not a negotiation based on trust. You need to be merciless!" We were already familiar with Swiss documentary filmmaker Jean-Stéphane Bron’s gift for leaping through the other side of the looking glass, exploring places invisible to the general public where laws (Mais im Bundeshuus: Le Génie helvétique) or shows (The Paris Opera [+see also:
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"They’ve won a battle, not the war", "are you protecting me or spying on me", “it’s not about betraying people, it’s informing people". The setting for this story, following in the wake of Alexandra Weiss (Belgium’s Veerle Baetens), the Swiss host’s chief of protocol for the final round of crucial negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme, is a Genevan palace invaded in the spring of 2015 by an effervescence of whisperings, secret “backchannelled” conversations, strategies, suspicions over traps, secure lines and an atmosphere where everyone spies on everyone else, everyone weighs each other up and everyone second-guesses the other’s intentions.

Covering two days per episode, the story skilfully entangles several utterly credible and brilliantly characterised leading men and women (who each have their own missions, ambitions and personal problems): American under-secretary Cindy Cohen (Juliet Stevenson), fellow American Andrew Porter (Sam Crane), who’s representing the Treasury and is more inclined towards sanctions than conflict resolution, reformist Iranian minister Mohsen Mahdavi (Anthony Azizi), his worrying prison guard Ali Katibi (Alexander Behrang Keshtkar), appointed by the Guardians of the Revolution to ensure negotiations follow a very strict line, and European Union delegate Margaret Davies (Fenella Woolgar). If you add to this cosmopolitan cocktail Russian national Markov, China’s Zou, the watchful eye of the press, the secret services, intrusive lobbyists, and scientists (including Payam Sanjabi - Arash Marandi – who’s been released from prison for this occasion, where he’s been rotting away for the past three years, in order to replace a colleague killed by Mossad and who clearly knows Alexandra on an intimate level), you have all the ingredients for an intelligent and captivating series boasting excellent acting performances and perfectly paced in terms of its emotional arc and its wonderful huis-clos-style observation of the highly coded habits and customs (not to mention refined decorum) of this tribe of diplomats playing a game of chess with global ramifications.

The Deal was produced by Swiss firm Bande à Part Films and French outfits Les Films Pelléas and Gaumont Télévision (with the latter steering world sales), in co-production with Arte France, Bidibul Production (Luxembourg), RTS (Switzerland), Versus Production (Belgium) and Inver Tax Shelter (Belgium).

(Translated from French)