| Adults in the Room | |
| Native Name: | |
| Director: | Costa Gavras |
| Music: | Alexandre Desplat |
| Cinematography: | Giorgos Arvanitis |
| Editing: | Costa-Gavras Lambis Haralambidis |
| Producer: | Alexandre Gavras Manos Krezias Michèle Ray-Gavras |
| Production Companies: | K.G. Productions Wild Bunch Elle Driver France 2 Cinéma Odeon |
| Runtime: | 124 minutes |
| Country: | France Greece |
| Language: | French German English Greek |
Adults in the Room (Ενήλικοι στην αίθουσα|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.[1] It is Gavras' first feature film that was shot in Greece.[2]
In 2015, following Syriza's victory in the 2015 Greek legislative election, Yánis Varoufákis (Minister of Finance) is tasked by Prime Minister Aléxis Tsípras 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, Varoufákis's 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, Greek PM Aléxis Tsípras 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. Yánis Varoufákis then resigned, five months after taking the office.
The film was selected to play out of competition at the 76th Venice International Film Festival.[4]
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.'"[5]
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."[6]