In general, the hours we spend on budget airlines are not ones we’re particularly keen to relive, so a film that vividly recreates the unique ambience of a Ryanair flight is probably not, on paper, moving to the top of your must-see list. But I’d encourage you to fight those instincts for Zero Fucks Given, a marvellously titled French film newly streaming on Mubi.
Those three words could, I suppose, encapsulate the service experience on many a low-cost carrier. Instead, they refer to the pushed-to-the-brink attitude of young flight attendant Cassandre, who works with increasing exasperation for Wing, a fictitious airline that resembles Ryanair about as closely as possible (down to the garish yellow-and-blue branding) without inviting legal action. Based, if barely rooted, in Lanzarote, she spends her days jetting from one European city to another, racking up miles but no real sense of place in the world. Her dream is to work for the loftier Emirates, though one wonders if a better uniform and richer customers will make her much happier.
