The Players (2012)
Directed by Jean Dujardin
No — The Players is not woke, scoring 0 out of 100 on our wokeness meter.
Eight short films, a single theme, and no regrets.
Consciousness Markers
The cast is a conventional ensemble of white French comedic actors; no diversity-conscious casting effort is present or remarked upon.
The film concerns heterosexual male infidelity exclusively, with no LGBTQ+ characters or themes.
The film is a bawdy celebration of unrepentant male cheating and drew official sexism complaints over its promotional posters, placing it firmly at odds with any feminist sensibility.
No engagement with race, racism, or racial identity appears in the vignettes.
No environmental or climate themes whatsoever.
No critique of wealth, capitalism, or class structures; the concerns are purely carnal.
The film's treatment of women's bodies is objectifying rather than body-positive, and no such messaging is present.
No neurodivergent characters or themes.
No historical revisionism; the film is a contemporary sex comedy anthology.
The film is a ribald comedy with no didactic or preachy intent; it aims to amuse, not to instruct.
Why it received this score
Eight short films, a single theme, and no regrets. The Players, released in France in 2012 as Les Infidèles, assembles Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche as a pair of serial cheaters who spend a night on the town and then inhabit a rotating cast of cads, husbands, and opportunists. Both men write, direct, and star. The result plays like a bachelor party that got access to a camera and a modest budget. It is coarse, episodic, and entirely pleased with itself.
The film's relationship with the present moment is best measured by its marketing. Promotional posters showed the two leads gripping a pair of bare female legs, which drew four official complaints to the French advertising regulator. The posters came down. The distributor apologized. An early cut reportedly contained a vignette set against the collapse of the World Trade Center, later removed, allegedly to protect Dujardin's awards prospects for a different film. Here is a comedy whose controversies are all of the retrograde variety, which is its own kind of clarity.
On the classification front, the ledger stays blank. The ensemble is a standard gathering of white French comedians, the subject is heterosexual male appetite, and the women exist chiefly as scenery or as the aggrieved. Race, sexuality, class, environment, and neurodivergence never enter the frame. The film has no interest in reforming anyone, including its characters, and no interest in instructing its audience. It wants to amuse, and it pursues that goal with a single-mindedness that is almost admirable. An Italian remake followed in 2020, which suggests the appetite endures somewhere. We record the entry, close the ledger, and move on.
Analysis generated by our Consciousness Algorithm
Synopsis
Eight short films explore the subject of male infidelity. Serial cheaters, Fred and Greg, spend a night on the town doing what they do best, and with absolutely no regrets. The duo play various characters in assorted extracurricular situations, ranging from sexist to the darker sides of carnal desires.
Questions about The Players
Is The Players woke?
No — The Players is not woke, scoring 0 out of 100 on our wokeness meter. That earns it a verdict of Ultra Based.
Does The Players have any woke elements?
No. All 10 markers score zero.
How does The Players compare to other 2012 movies?
It ranks #193 of the 230 films from 2012 we've scored; their average is 12. The wokest is Killing Them Softly (92).
How is the Woke Score calculated?
An AI-assisted process researches the film and its reception, scores it 0–100 on ten markers, then combines those into one 0–100 Woke Score. It measures a specific set of 2020s cultural themes, not film quality.