'L'argent des autres', Christian de Chalonge's movie, was one of the best films of 1978 in France, enjoying box-office success and receiving the two most important Cesar awards - for the best film and for the best direction. It is a political thriller inspired by two famous cases in France from the early 1970s, adapted from a novel by Nancy Markham, but the screenwriters (including the director and author of the novel) chose to remove any direct political allusion from the text. It is possible that the subject was still too recent and so well known to the public that direct references were unnecessary. At the end of the day, I think this decanting has done the film good for posterity, giving it a more general meaning and a still acute actuality 45 years after its making.
Henri Rainier is a bank clerk. Important enough to enjoy a generous salary, unimportant enough that his decisions are made only after he receives - over the phone in most cases - the approval of his superiors. He is a rather oblivious guy in appearance, very normative and dedicated to the system in which he operates. One of his daughters mocks him for the gray suits and black ties he wears at all hours and in all circumstances. His career is cut short the day he is fired, accused of not being vigilant enough and approving unsecured loans to a dubious tycoon. In a few minutes he is literally thrown into the street, with two boxes of personal belongings in his arms. Rainier decides not to give in, he knows he is innocent and will fight for his personal prestige and to regain his position in the bank. On his side are only his beautiful wife, a trade union activist and a lawyer. The entire banking system is against him. Gradually, he discovers that he had been chosen as a scapegoat to cover up a Ponzi scheme that was siphoning off the savings of hundreds or thousands of small bank customers. If the topic sounds familiar and pulled from last night's news, that's because this kind of fraud has been around for about as long as banks have been around. A theme, unfortunately, always current.
The sets play an important role in creating the atmosphere of the film and at the same time give it a retro feel. Vast file archives rooms have been replaced in recent decades by the memories of computer systems, but the bank buildings, with their impressive arcades, endless corridors, and massive, intimidating furniture, have remained just as crushing compared to human dimensions. The counterpoint is the futuristic setting in which the labor recruitment agency is placed, taken as if from a Kubrick film. The Kafkaesque predicament of the innocently accused hero, battling a system that seeks to annihilate him, is amplified by the shrill, unsettling music. Jean-Louis Trintignant, with his minimalist restraint and ambiguity is perfect as Rainier. I can only regret that Catherine Deneuve was not given more consistent lines, reducing the character to a luminous but insufficiently defined presence. On the other hand, Claude Brasseur and especially Michel Serrault are excellent in the roles of those who try to cover up their crimes by framing an innocent man. The ending leaves us to understand that even after the justice had its say, the main culprits remain unpunished and the real losers remain uncompensated. The system will remain the same.
Henri Rainier is a bank clerk. Important enough to enjoy a generous salary, unimportant enough that his decisions are made only after he receives - over the phone in most cases - the approval of his superiors. He is a rather oblivious guy in appearance, very normative and dedicated to the system in which he operates. One of his daughters mocks him for the gray suits and black ties he wears at all hours and in all circumstances. His career is cut short the day he is fired, accused of not being vigilant enough and approving unsecured loans to a dubious tycoon. In a few minutes he is literally thrown into the street, with two boxes of personal belongings in his arms. Rainier decides not to give in, he knows he is innocent and will fight for his personal prestige and to regain his position in the bank. On his side are only his beautiful wife, a trade union activist and a lawyer. The entire banking system is against him. Gradually, he discovers that he had been chosen as a scapegoat to cover up a Ponzi scheme that was siphoning off the savings of hundreds or thousands of small bank customers. If the topic sounds familiar and pulled from last night's news, that's because this kind of fraud has been around for about as long as banks have been around. A theme, unfortunately, always current.
The sets play an important role in creating the atmosphere of the film and at the same time give it a retro feel. Vast file archives rooms have been replaced in recent decades by the memories of computer systems, but the bank buildings, with their impressive arcades, endless corridors, and massive, intimidating furniture, have remained just as crushing compared to human dimensions. The counterpoint is the futuristic setting in which the labor recruitment agency is placed, taken as if from a Kubrick film. The Kafkaesque predicament of the innocently accused hero, battling a system that seeks to annihilate him, is amplified by the shrill, unsettling music. Jean-Louis Trintignant, with his minimalist restraint and ambiguity is perfect as Rainier. I can only regret that Catherine Deneuve was not given more consistent lines, reducing the character to a luminous but insufficiently defined presence. On the other hand, Claude Brasseur and especially Michel Serrault are excellent in the roles of those who try to cover up their crimes by framing an innocent man. The ending leaves us to understand that even after the justice had its say, the main culprits remain unpunished and the real losers remain uncompensated. The system will remain the same.
