Le couperet
Tags: comedy, satire, murder

Plot synopsis:
Bruno Davert (José Garcia) is a highly-qualified chemist. After working for fifteen years for a paper company, improving products and saving money to shareholders, the company lets 600 workers go before outsourcing many of the jobs. The result for the company is a 16% increase in dividends to shareholders. Two years afterwards, Davert is still jobless. The only profitable company in his sector is Arcadia, but joining that company is impossible for him. Suddenly, he thinks of a way of getting rid of his competition. He offers a fake job - the kind of job he would apply for - on the job section of a newspaper and that way he gets dozens of curriculi vitae. The person who occupies the job he'd like to have is like him: middle-aged, balding, a bit overweight; but he always smiles and projects a successful image. His name is Raymond Machafer (Oliver Gourmet). Bruno selects the five curriculi which are most likely to get the job, and he decides to eliminate them all.His wife, Marlène (Karin Viard) try to be as supportive as she can. She holds two part-time jobs which cannot pay for all their bills, so that their teenaged children Maxime (Geordy Monfils) and Betty (Christa Theret), find some things lacking, for example the satellite TV. Bruno is jealous of Marlène's boss (Hervé Pauchon), always smiling, and he's afraid that he wil make a pass at her sooner or later. Bruno goes to the basement where there are some military artifacts from back when his father fought in the WWII. He takes a gun and some bullets, and learns to shoot in the woods nearby.His first killing spree happens in Belgium. Every time he shoots, his arm hurts. Bruno kills the first applicant, Birch (Marc Legein) when he leaves home to pick up his mail. Nobody has a clue that he has done anything strange. The only thing which Marlène notices is that he is more nervous than usual, but she blames his jobless situation. She notices that he has light up the chimney before time, and that he has got somebody else's CV, but he just dismisses it as that he has prepared a new résume and CV.He goes to a job interview. The HHRR manager, Iris Thompson (Olga Grumberg) makes him tough questions. Bruno gets cocky, tells the truth about what he feels, so that he realises he has destroyed all his possibilities of getting the job.The second time that he kills somebody he has problems in finding the right moment. A female biker (Luce Bouchel) looks at him in a weird way. When he comes to that location a second time, the weird woman shouts and threatens him, as she thinks he is the pervert who is harassing her daughter. She finds out about Bruno's gun, so Bruno has to kill her. Her husband - which is his victim - goes out to the garden when he hears the shooting, and Bruno kills him. Later on, the case appears on the news. Judy Rick (Marie Kremer) accuses the man who harassed him of killing both her parents, whom she was living with. Bruno repents, and thinks that he has to give himself up, because he can't allow an innocent person to pay for his crimes, but the suspect jumps from a height. He dismisses his initial intentions.He finds another applicant working at a small restaurant. He's trying to come back to the paper industry, and working as a chef in the meantime. Bruno tries to kill him when he leaves his job, but he can't find the right moment. At last, he runs over him accidentally.After the incident, Bruno has to take the car to the garage. The workman (Jean-Pierre Gos) talks to him concerning how his wife has also been made redundant after 11 years at the local hospital. The workman is afraid of losing his job as well, but he says that he's going to shoot himself in front of his bosses if that moment finally arrives.Marlène insists in attending to a psychology expert, Quinlan Longus (Dieudoné Kabongo Bashila), in order to help them out. Bruno has to express feelings of loss, threat and anger. Marlène will support him through thick and thin if he changes his ways a little bit.Maxime is caught red-handed stealing videos and videogames. A social worker gives Bruno and Marlène until six in the morning to send the police home. Bruno and Marlène argue it was Maxime's first time, but when they are back home, they pressure Betty into telling them where Maxime's loot is hiding - in a double wall in his wardrobe. Bruno throws away three whole rubbish bags of stolen goods, so when the police arrive there is nothing to hide. That way, Maxime gets out of his predicament lightly. Another different of police officers (Michel Carcan, Serge Larivière) appear later on to question Bruno about the deaths of paper workers. He asks for protection, but there is no staff to protect everybody who may be threatened by a mysterious psychopath who is killing paper industry workers with an old Nazi gun. Inspector Otto Zirner (Robert Borremans) even makes a comment about the possibility of the gun exploding every time it is used. Marlène thinks it's further questioning concerning Maxime's illegal activities.A new applicant appears. Gérard Hutchinson (Ulrich Tukur) is working, which is going to be a great asset when applying for a job. Bruno wants to get rid of him, but he realises he can't use the gun, so takes a kitchen knife. Bruno calls him to a restaurant with the pretence of a job interview, and then he follows him: Gérald works in a menswear clothes shop. Gérard talks to him, and says that he should get used to his new job, as after five years he may have lost his touch with the paper industry, and also mentions that a police officer told him about a psycho who is killing paper industry workers. Bruno has to hide the huge knife from him, but he finally doesn't kill him, at least at that moment. Bruno will decide to leave him alone, as Gérard is eager to keep his preset job, and quite the paper industry race.He breaks into Raymond Machafer (Oliver Gourmet)'s home, but as he arrives accompanied by a woman, he can't kill him at that moment either. Bruno falls sleep at that home of another of his would-be victims, and dreams he's already working for Arcadia and is showing some people around. Raymond appears, completely drunk, and believes his story that the door was aghast and that he entered in order to make him some questions about the possibility of working for Arcadia. Raymond is afraid of losing his job, as some positions are being outsourced as well. Raymond points a gun of his to Bruno, but he convinces him and they both end up drinking even more. When Raymond is completely passed out, Bruno opens the gas spit. When Raymond lights a cigarette, he blows himself to death.Back home, Bruno makes some exercise while waiting for an Arcadia phone call. Finally, Anne Futerman from Arcadia sends him an e-mail asking to reply back in 24 hours. A police officer visits Bruno to tell him that Gérard has committed suicide. They think he was the one who killed all the paper industry workpeople, and the police officers wants to calm Bruno down, as there is no danger anymore.A professionally woman (Vanessa Larré) is so obsessed with him as he was with the other applicants before.

Review: Westlake and Gavras know that in order to pass the message you have to lighten up the atmosphere (a la Truman Show), or else the viewer won't sit the whole movie.
It's a thriller that actually deserves to be called by that over-used adjective 'Hitchcockian' as we gradually identify more and more what the lead character who starts off as what, a hit-man, a serial-killer?
Jose Garcia who I last saw overdoing it in a so-so comedy called APRES VOUS is very good as the ordinary guy pushed to the limit and Karen Viard also always watchable as his blandly oblivious wife, who also becomes involved via a different set of crimes involving their family..
His behaviour changes, and his wife Marlène(Karin Viard) feels Bruno moving away from the family, from herself and from the true life.Costa-Gavras shows as the unemployment can make a man crazy.A perfect look on the stupidity of our society when a man is only the money he can earn.
Costa-Gavras show us the vacuum we are running to, destroying everything to obtain what ?Probably the best political movie of the ten last years.
Many years ago there was a film starring Alec Guinness called "Kind Hearts and Coronets", which took the case that a member of a wealthy family murders off his relatives to inherit the estate.
"Le Couperet" offers a similar plot, although this time a disgruntled unemployed engineer becomes an inept assassin to remove his competitors for a top job with often-hilarious consequences.In this very dark comedy Jose Garcia does well as the bumbling killer, at times reminiscent of a young Jack Lemmon, and there are many surprises along the way.
Many watching the movie might well relate to its characters and their plight.Excellent sequences include the job interview, which has more than a ring of truth, the discussions about unemployment and its social consequences by the discouraged out-of-work executives, and the scenes with the marriage counselor.
Better yet, this social satire is packaged as an absurd black comedy - serial killer story.
Maybe the best 'noir' movie I've seen in the last years, and definitively the best Donald Westlake adaptation so far, "Arcadia" is the story of a man obsessed with a job, who thinks that the only way to get it is killing every candidate who can be better than him, and must cope with his many mistakes and family problems.
It sounds like a tragedy, or a drama, but it is the best piece of black (or not so black) humor combined with noir I remember, which is surprising: I didn't know that Costa-Gavras had so much sense of humor.
Costa -Gavras 's body of work does not lack in unity.Except for his two fist movies,which were thrillers , a romantic tale ("Clair de Femme" ) and a comedy that does not count ("Conseil de Famille' ) all that he has made display social and political concerns.From his early French classics ("Z "(He is alive) "L'Aveu" ,"Etat de Siège") to his American period ("Missing" "Betrayed" "Music Box" ) to his French comeback ("Amen" ) there is a cohesion which even André Cayatte ,his closest contender in the field,did not reach.And then "Le Couperet" .Don't be mistaken.It's not that much different from CG's previous efforts.Based on a Donald Westlake novel-a writer whose black humour was fierce- ,it contains lines Henri Jeanson or Michel Audiard would not have disowned.Comedy walks a fine line ,but it walks hand in hand with tragedy .You must watch it seriously to realize what heavy things CG is saying.While making his film verge on parody,he is also putting the French society in a less exalted light than we have been used to seeing it in.Suddenly our world seems frightening (the gas station man who hides a gun in his cash register,the icily impersonal female headhunter -I wish I had had my gun!-)It is really the society of the leave-you-behind and perhaps -I hope not - an omen of things to come in the future.I do not speak of the murders obviously.There are other ways of destroying a human being."When I saw them enter the restaurant ,the German ex-engineer says,I knew that I didn't stand the slightest chance ".The last picture has (and will be) widely talked about.Actually it reminds me of the ending of Mankiewicz's "All about Eve " when Phoebe tries Eve's crown .When you get to the top,there is nowhere to go but down.A film noir,a farce,a psychological drama ,a social satire and a movie where CG talks politics.One of his most accessible and one of his strongest works.At seventy plus,CG is as young as the reporter who bothered the fascists in "Z".He is abetted by Jose Garcia on top of his game.Like this?Try these....."Extension du domaine de la lutte" Philippe Harel 1998"L'adversaire" Nicole Garcia 2002 "Working girl" Mike Nichols 1988.
The thirty-nine years old executive Bruno Davert (José Garcia) has been working for fifteen years in a paper company.
He concludes that there is too much competition in his sector for a few job positions and decides to literally eliminate his competitors, killing those more qualified than him."Le Couperet" is a sarcastic view of the greed of the companies and the effects of downsizing in the self-esteem and sanity of a man.
The awareness of the economical situation in France (but could be in most of the nations) and black-humor of Costas-Gravas gives a fantastic satire to the greed of the corporations, aiming exclusively profits without any care for the human beings.
José Garcia is stunning in the role of a bitter man fighting to find job position and serial killer.
I've seen "Le Couperet" and it impressed me.There is a lot of suspense.And influence from Alfred Hitchcock movies.Costa-Gavras himself came to my country (Brazil) to give a lecture and answered questions about cinema and his movies in March 29, 2005.He talked about how he started making movies and the French movies.In his opinion, France is a good place to make movies because the government helps filmmakers and there is at least 150 movies made every year.In March 31, an avant-premiere of "Le Couperet" took place in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.It was great to see this movie having Costa-Gavras present.Amazing..
Costa Gavras is a master of the political film.
People are portrayed realistically but their conflicts are simplified because the political film intends to portray society and its problems - unemployment, hunger, class exploitation and so on - in other words, they talk about the big (lack of bread, for instance) and forget the small (emotions like loneliness and sadness, for instance).Many political films concerned about their objectivity are quite emotionless, or else their emotions are one-sided - bad and ugly live here, beauty and love live there, or the other way around.FEW POLITICAL FILMS are able to bridge this gap: to talk about society and at the same time not forget the individual man and his/her very complex universe and contradictions.
His films are efficient and convey their message to the public, but they lack warmth."Le Couperet" is nonetheless an interesting film - a man that works as a chemist loses his job and after 2 years of unemployment decides to kill whoever stands in his way to get another job - so he places an ad of an imaginary enterprise in the newspaper offering a chemist job (his professional area) and rents a post box to read the answers he gets.
Many enterprises are closing or cutting expenses (that means firing people).Costas Gavras films are good because they make questions about the world in which we live, they make us think, but his films don't really touch me - I would say they provide food for thought but not food for the heart..
I'm a big fan of Costa-Gavras' political films, they really are the best in their genre.
I was taken by surprise by this film, because I had no idea Gavras can make funny films also, since he normally is so political/critical.This movie is a delicious dark comedy!
I like that he looks Spanish/Portuguese, being it a French movie.A man that can make political movies, but also such good comedies, like Gavras does, really is a gifted man!
As a fan of previous Costa-Gavras films, I was disappointed in this most recent effort.
He drives a nice car, has a nice family, and lives in a nice big house in the suburbs of Strasbourg.(He also doesn't have a cell phone and rarely checks e-mail, apparently, even though this film was made in 2005.) Others in his situation -- those whom he decides to kill -- are similarly privileged, likely supplemented by a generous severance package.
Yet the remedy to this very real problem -- loosening some of the restrictions of France's extremely rigid labor market -- is precisely what Costa-Gavras argues against, in the name of social justice.
Guess the tube is just full of cussing Americans and their guns, slowly infiltrating our pristine society!) And finally, the film either takes place in a bizarre alternate reality in which cell phones and e-mail are not common, or the filmmaker actively chose to set the story 5-10 years in the past (why?
Westlake on which this movie is based but I have read several of his works and til now I never had him pegged as a plagiarist but here he's at it twice over; firstly he lifts a title, Ax, already used by Ed McBain in one of his 87th Precinct novels and then the plot itself is pure Richard The Third, or - and new readers start here - the one about the guy who kills everybody standing between him and the throne.
Like a lot of people in similar circumstances - he is after all a chemist as opposed to a common or garden administrator - he figures it's only a matter of time til he lucks into another job but after three years of no money, a wife, Karin Viard, and two kids to support and a house to keep up he figures the only way through the wood is, to paraphrase Richard Crookback, 'hack my way out with a bloody axe.
I saw this Costa-Gavras movie in a theater.
Since he cannot think of doing another job, since every interview for a job ends with a meaningful "we'll call you", he decides that the only way to get back his job is "simply" to kill his competitors.My first impression was that the movie is too long and many scenes are in fact boring, and the story is not interesting enough or complex enough to make a movie by itself.
The idea that, in our modern society, many people define themselves by their job (and not by what they achieve in other fields, their family life for instance), is probably an interesting theme.
In his movie however, I cannot tell if the director Costa-Gavras opted for a comedy or a drama about a serial killer.
Maybe we'll get a better movie if you keep it short, concise and cut all the boring scenes.If you want a good drama which is also a good social satire from France, pick any of the Chabrol's.
Probably, the two encounters with two of the victims (the waiter and the salesman) can brig more evidences about the real situation portrayed by the main character than the rest of the action, a TV movie with two much superfluous elements, badly oriented and excessively based on a fake tension.
What's a pity for a film that it could be a good drill work of our "consumible" society.I can suggest a Spanish film "Los Lunes Al Sol" as an example of a clean approach to the world of people who after losing their jobs progressively become ...
Le Couperet can be classified as one of Costa Gavras' minor film..
There is no doubt that Costa Gavras is a major film director with tremendous global appeal.
However, despite all these remarkable distinctions, Le Couperet is a major disappoint for Costa Gavras.
This is one good reason why irrational killings by the film's unemployed protagonist Bruno Davert-a role played by José Garcia, do not have an air of justness as if such reckless killing methods are adopted then there are ample chances that every second unemployed person would like to kill the ones who have jobs.
There are too many 'easy to guess' clues in the film's script for which Costa Gavras collaborated with Jean Claude Grumberg.
A good thing about "Le Couperet" is that lead actor Jose Garcia's presence is the film's sole saving grace.For an actor of his stature who has left an impressive mark on numerous comedy films, it is surprising to know that he has convincingly conveyed the gruesomeness of a mad murderer who bumps off innocent people with remarkable ease..
*** 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This film, based on a 1997 novel by the prolific American crime writer Donald E Westlake, could be described as Costa Gravas lite, as it has many of the elements of black comedy.The protagonist, Bruno (Jose Garcia), has lost his well-paid job as a senior chemist at a paper manufacturing company owing to a corporate merger.
His wife (Karin Viard) suspects Bruno might be having an affair, though since the story has been relocated to France from New England she is only mildly upset about the possibility, and they troop off to a marriage counselor.
The minor characters are well realised, particularly Ulrik Tukur as Hutchinson and Olivier Gourmet as the man whose job Bruno is after.
Karin Viard is effective as the baffled wife, and Geordy Monfils filled the bill as their errant son.I also liked Olga Grumberg in a small but significant role as a contemptuous job interviewer.Costa Gavras has sugared the pill a bit here, but the film remains much stronger stuff, than, say, "Up in the Air", Jason Reitman's recent take on giving people the sack..
Little does Bruno know that soon he will be on the unemployment line because the company has decided to outsource the work to a Rumanian firm.
Thus begins the story of a man's sudden descent into a crisis caused by the situation in most of the industrialized nations.Bruno devises a scheme to eliminate the possible competition that are looking for the same position he is after.
Not content with that, the Daverts find out in the worse way their son has been stealing software programs and faces jail time if found out.Bruno goes through a killing spree eliminating the competitors.
The last scene of the movie offers a puzzle that is left to the viewer to solve."Le Couperet", directed by Costa-Gavras, is a black comedy for our times.
Mr. Westlake's books lend themselves for screen treatments such as the one Mr. Costa-Gavras has given the material.
It's rather a black comedy of mystery and suspense in our humble opinion.The best thing in the film is Jose Garcia, an actor with a face that goes perfectly with his character.
starts eliminating them.Costa Gavras, the director of the big political causes touches here an important issue of our days which hurts badly a lot of people.
This film is not a shocker when you see it, it is actually quite entertaining and funny to watch sometimes, but makes you reflect at the real situation described here more after the movie than during the screening.
Continuing my mission to watch every item in Costa-Gavras' filmography, I turned to Le Couperet, one of his most recent movies.
Westlake about a family man who's sacked after years of loyalty and dedication to his work so that the corporation can relocate to a cheaper place.
Realising there's too much competition on a market that's overfilled with job-seekers, he decides to kill the competition so he can be the only man to apply to a vacancy.It's an absurd premise, fit for the absurd world we live in and which this movie depicts very well, in which productive people are sacked, corporations are free to exploit people, and normal people are forced to extreme measures to survive.Costa-Gavras continues to build on the work that has made him one of the best European directors of of our times, by exposing what's wrong with the world and inviting viewers to think about these matters.From a technical perspective, it's a straightforwards, well-directed movie.
Costa-Gavras was never one to dazzle with visuals; he prefers to dazzle with ideas and this movie shows him in command of character, story, and pacing, making Le Couperet one of his most enjoyable movies in a long time..