SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

jonathanruano Renowned film director Constantin Costa-Gavras has attempted to make a film about the cut-throat world of international banking, with Marc Tourneuil (Gad Elmaleh) as his main anti-hero. Tourneuil is unexpectedly catapulted into the job of CEO of Phenix Bank after its previous CEO succumbs to an advanced stage of testicular cancer. After a few jokes about testicles, Tourneuil must head off political intrigues in order to stay at the helm of the firm.A movie like this works when there is lots of sly wit and plot developments to hold our interest and compensate for the absence of sympathetic characters. The problem with "Le Capital" is that it is somewhat deficient in these two areas, though not to the extent that I would not recommend the picture. To begin with, Costa-Gavras clearly wants to show that multinational banking is destructive to the economy and to people's lives, but he does not expand on these themes in any meaningful way. Tourneuil's comment about being ignorant of the financial instruments which Phenix Bank sells remains a loose end. Likewise, Tourneuil's significant remark that bankers are akin to children who play with other people's money until the financial system blows up remains an enigmatic portend. A great film would attempt to explore these themes more fully through the life of Tourneuil. We do not get any insight into the shortcomings of securitized assets, or the pressures that bankers come under to sell these combustible assets to capital markets, or even Phenix Bank's lobbying of governments in order to change the financial regulations in its favour. This film cannot be faulted for not having a message. Constantin Costa-Gavras is too much of the intellectual to make a film without a point, but he doesn't explain why his core message is important and he doesn't try to present that message in an original way.The plot developments about the vicious intrigues in international banking are entertaining, but we have seen this story being told before in much more exciting ways. Normally a film about the global financial system would have bankers coming up with flashes of sly wit. There is occasionally some sly wit in this picture, particularly in the last scene ("I am the modern Robin Hood. We will continue taking money from the poor to give to the rich"), but not nearly enough in order to underscore how shrewd and unscrupulous Tourneuil and the other bankers are. This is a pity, because the cast is clearly talented. Lastly, Dittmar's attempt to screw over Phenix Bank is so transparent that it is strange that Tourneuil, being as brilliant as he is, took so long to figure out what Dittmar was up to.Another major weakness of this film is the super model/prostitute, Nassim. Nassim seduces Tourneuil, plays with his credit card, plays an international game of tag with him, and implies that she will give into his sexual pleasures. I have no problem with Liya Kebede's performance as Nassim, but I feel that she is an unnecessary character who slows down the film whenever she is on screen. If this film focused more on international banking instead of Tourneuil attempts to have sex with Nassim, it would have been a better movie."Le Capital" has good performances and is somewhat entertaining, but it is often lacking in interesting dialogue and plot development and gives us little perspective into the Machiavellian, egotistical world of international banking and the financial geniuses who were so sure of their gifts that they almost sent the entire global financial system crashing down.

blanche-2 When the CEO of France's Phenix Bank collapses on the golf course, a young bank executive, (Gad Elmaleh) becomes a temporary CEO. He'd like to be permanent, but he realizes right away that there is a very different agenda in play. An American hedge fund leader, Dittmar Rigule (Gabriel Byrne) is calling the shots and wants Phenix to purchase a worthless Japanese company, for one thing. If he does this, Phenix becomes worthless and the Americans can buy it for next to nothing. That's just one of his problems. His enemies attempt to distract him using a gorgeous model (Liya Kebede), whom he chases around the world. Elmaleh plays an antihero who is just as bad as everyone else with his wheeling and dealing, ambition, and disregard for the lives of others. He tells the stockholders that he is like Robin Hood, robbing from the poor to make the rich richer. It's what they all do. It's all a game, he tells someone at the end, and they're all children. They'll have fun until it all goes wrong. Meanwhile he travels, stays in the best places, and cheats on his wife.I read a few critiques of this, that it's too light and should have been darker. But it's based on "Das Kapital" by Karl Marx and works in Marx's ideas. Some of it seems caricatured and clichéd, but it's really just drawing on an ideology put forth by Marx and Mao Tse Tung. Like all of these corporation/banking films and documentaries, it's depressing. Last night I saw a film called "Common" where a woman's son is killed. She is getting money, but not in time to bury him, so she tries to borrow it from a bank. She can't. No, she can't, but everyone just piled money on Enron when they had nothing but dummy corporations and no product. Just threw money at them.I have to think, as Costa-Gravas seems to, that someday this will all go amuck, though in some situations, it already has -- the housing industry, Enron, Bernie Maddock, reported to the SEC countless times, but no one could be bothered to do anything about it -- and on and on. I don't have any answers. Well, I do, actually. The answer is Greed.

Ersbel Oraph I have seen the posters. Gad Elmaleh and Costa Gavras? Well, Costa Gavras directed nobodies like Ion Caramitru, so why not a stand up comedy man? Than I have read the reviews. The world is not like that, they say.I have watched the movie. Maybe there are a bit too many characters on screen. I can say that of all of Costa Gavras' movies I have seen so far. But the story is good. And it's the best business-themed movie I have seen.So what I can tell you is go see the movie and find for yourself if you like it. Just keep in mind this is not a reality TV show about white collar crime. Maybe it's true that the television has a strong impact on the way audiences perceive the big screen stories.Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch

movie reviews A French banker outplays the hedge funds and other crooks at their own games and ends up on top.Fortunately the film has no heavy left wing message--in fact if it has any message it is that high finance is a game like the video games kids play.I found it refreshing and different.....The bad guys look too much like bad guys...ruffled hair...ugly expressions ...take of 1 star for that hence a 7 instead of an 8.The part with the prostitute/model was funny--she got her just do.RECOMMEND