*** May contain some spoilers ***
"Le Couperet", the last Costa-Gavras, talks about the insanity provoked in a middle-age manager after the loss of his very specialized job in a company that rearranged its stuff aboard by economic convenience. The plot, very well adapted from the novel "The Ax", by Donald E. Westlake, is itself a denunciation of what is happening in our capitalist and liberal system were people hardly conserve their employ and, once fired, they can reinsert themselves even more hardly into the system. Costa-Gavras remarks all throughout the movie the concept of consummation nowadays and how this attitude becomes a growing problem to maintain the status of our style-life.
I went to the theater foreseeing a remake of "Falling Down" (Schumacher, 1993), where a lonely man becomes crazy after been fired and starts to kill people indiscriminately into the crowd. And I was wrong. Machiavellian Bruno (José García), the depressed and introspected main character, reacts in a peculiar way by selecting extremely well their preys -their job's rivals. Moreover, murders occur in isolated places. In the meantime his loving wife (Karim Viard) works outside and tries to maintain the marriage equilibrium and the family integrity. Both actors are GREAT!
The movie has a really great rhythm from the beginning to the end. A cute melange of dramatic and hilarious situations spices the entire movie, as well as an intelligent use of the voice-off to look into somebody's head decided to kill someone else.
Direction simply excels. Actors are credible and familiar. The couple García-Viard works finely and perfectly in tuning. That's why face to face scenes between García and Viard or with the victims are of such efficiency that one feels into the place. Dialogs sound naturally unforced. Supporting actors dance very well synchronized with mains ones. Photography is clean, vivid, luminous contrasting with the internal dark mood of Bruno. Camera scans little villages in the north of France and Belgium, and pierces in houses and surrounds of middle-class people. Music is very discreet and works mainly as an insinuation of Bruno's moods than a heavy score omnipresent.
In summary: a very solid Costa-Gavras, sadly current and confirming that the director has not said his last word yet (and fortunately!). I recommend this movie to those that love the soul of a good director reacting efficiently on the actor's work, and the landscapes of social denunciation painted on canvas made of present.
9/10
"Le Couperet", the last Costa-Gavras, talks about the insanity provoked in a middle-age manager after the loss of his very specialized job in a company that rearranged its stuff aboard by economic convenience. The plot, very well adapted from the novel "The Ax", by Donald E. Westlake, is itself a denunciation of what is happening in our capitalist and liberal system were people hardly conserve their employ and, once fired, they can reinsert themselves even more hardly into the system. Costa-Gavras remarks all throughout the movie the concept of consummation nowadays and how this attitude becomes a growing problem to maintain the status of our style-life.
I went to the theater foreseeing a remake of "Falling Down" (Schumacher, 1993), where a lonely man becomes crazy after been fired and starts to kill people indiscriminately into the crowd. And I was wrong. Machiavellian Bruno (José García), the depressed and introspected main character, reacts in a peculiar way by selecting extremely well their preys -their job's rivals. Moreover, murders occur in isolated places. In the meantime his loving wife (Karim Viard) works outside and tries to maintain the marriage equilibrium and the family integrity. Both actors are GREAT!
The movie has a really great rhythm from the beginning to the end. A cute melange of dramatic and hilarious situations spices the entire movie, as well as an intelligent use of the voice-off to look into somebody's head decided to kill someone else.
Direction simply excels. Actors are credible and familiar. The couple García-Viard works finely and perfectly in tuning. That's why face to face scenes between García and Viard or with the victims are of such efficiency that one feels into the place. Dialogs sound naturally unforced. Supporting actors dance very well synchronized with mains ones. Photography is clean, vivid, luminous contrasting with the internal dark mood of Bruno. Camera scans little villages in the north of France and Belgium, and pierces in houses and surrounds of middle-class people. Music is very discreet and works mainly as an insinuation of Bruno's moods than a heavy score omnipresent.
In summary: a very solid Costa-Gavras, sadly current and confirming that the director has not said his last word yet (and fortunately!). I recommend this movie to those that love the soul of a good director reacting efficiently on the actor's work, and the landscapes of social denunciation painted on canvas made of present.
9/10