The World of Yesterday: Diastème’s political thriller has a very promising start: the president learns that her candidate is facing a scandal, which would likely make an ultra-right nationalist win the next elections. It is a frightening scenario, all the more for how realistic it is. However, as the film progresses, the characters behave less and less convincingly, so the film doesn’t quite land at the end. Acting is quietly effective, without much space for showboating: Léa Drucker, as the president, is focused and projecting power, even when the character is at a loss. Denis Podalydès, as her chief of staff, plays well the growing despair his character goes through. Cinematographer Philippe Guilbert’s images are classically elegant, a sense that is mirrored by composer Valentine Duteil’s musical score. Editor Chantal Hymans gives the film a tight, wasteless pace.