Le couperet

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

Bruno DAVERT (Jose Garcia) is locked-out for economic reasons. To find a new job, his method is simple : kill the other candidates. 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. Garcia is excellent, probably because he does not know he his good. K. Viard change her usual energy in distress, her performance is excellent. Everybody is good.

Run to this movie. It shows you your future

I completely disagree with the reviewer who called this a'TV movie'. it's anything but... (did he see it on a TV screen?). 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? As we get into his motives and hit and miss way of carrying them out together with unrelated encounters with the cops we are willing, despite ourselves, that he will succeed. Why does this not have a US distributor yet? I saw it with an appreciative crowd in Paris earlier this year. 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.

Loved it! Loved it! A terrific satire of the modern corporate downsizing which destroys a man's pride and then everything else. Better yet, this social satire is packaged as an absurd black comedy - serial killer story. A picture of the world we're living in. Don't take the killings too seriously. Obviously, they are a metaphor for the desperation of the man. It's a little bit like "Shock to the System" but I liked this one better. Whether you laugh at this movie today or not, tomorrow this will be the reality for most all of us when only endless service jobs will have remained. Or, flipping burgers. I highly recommend this socially conscious movie, as I applaud its director for the courage to make it. Bravo!

Costa Gavras is a master of the political film. Political films in general are not my cup of tea. They try to convey some kind of message to the public, and they do it by portraying the persons in a stylized way, losing in depth in the process. 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. SOME OF THESE FILMS ARE the masterpieces of neorealism: "Ladri di Bicicletta" and "Umberto D" by Vittorio de Sica, "Los Olvidados" by Buñuel and many others.

Costa Gavras doesn't reach this goal. 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. He reads all the résumés and proceeds to kill all the people that are equal or more qualified than him - so that in the end he'll get the job because he will be the only remaining choice. All the while he will go on living normally with his family. He will suffer emotional crises, his marriage will become strained but no one will suspect anything at all of his alternative activities.

The film, after all, is very entertaining and gives a sad picture of France (and Western Europe I would say), suffering economic crisis and rising doubts. Is it possible with the globalization to maintain a very expensive Social Welfare and have to face a growing economic erosion? In USA (as far as I know), for instance, some unemployed people live on the streets or under the bridges. In France and Western Europe, unemployed people are still taken care of. Till when? 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.