Régime sans pain, influenced by (Ruiz’s) friend Jean Baudrillard (and calling) to mind grade-Z SF, grew out of a commission to direct a music video (featuring French cult rock duo of Angèle/Maimone). Ruiz offered a counterproposal that he direct several music videos rather than one; once this deal was made, he shot enough material to interconnect the various videos until he arrived at a feature.
:
In a pub called Eram, surrounded by the congestion of cars colliding on autopilot, Alouette (Anne Alvaro) sits, paralyzed, watching television broadcasts of appearances by Prince Jason III (Olivier Angèle) alongside figures like the President of the Ile de France region. In the midst of one of these televised addresses, Jason III, acting sovereign of the Principality of Vercors rock, is notified that his public approval ratings have fallen for the first time. This could well be a sign of his imminent death in a ritualized car accident. He relinquishes power and takes refuge in an area inhabited by Catholic refugees. Having been depersonalized by Professor Pi (or Pie, played by Gérard Maimone), he regains his princely mien with the help of the paralyzed Allouette who has fallen in love with him. But stripped of all malice and imperiousness, he will be removed from power to the benefit of Jason IV, another candidate who will in turn abandon his position and die in a ritualized car crash.
