Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

FilmCriticLalitRao There is no doubt that Costa Gavras is a major film director with tremendous global appeal. One would find it impossible to find a serious cinéphile who does not remember not having seen classics shot by him namely 'Z', 'L'Aveu', 'Etat De Siège' etc. He has made films both for Hollywood and European film industries. However, despite all these remarkable distinctions, Le Couperet is a major disappoint for Costa Gavras. It is for this reason that it should be considered a minor work in his filmography. Le Couperet has two major flaws which have led to its downfall. Firstly, from a 'philosophical' point of view, "Le Couperet" is 'ethically' wrong as in no terms can killing be justified even if it is carried out by somebody who follows a utilitarian perspective. 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. Le Couperet is also weak from a cinematographic perspective as it grossly lacks a strong script which can retain viewers' attention at all times. There are too many 'easy to guess' clues in the film's script for which Costa Gavras collaborated with Jean Claude Grumberg. This is one reason why it is easy for a viewer to state with confidence what is going to take place in the next scene. 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.

Philby-3 Costa Gavras has a reputation for very serious and very political thrillers. He first came to prominence 40 years ago with "Z", a film about a political assassination in his native Greece. Of his oeuvre since then I have seen and enjoyed "State of Siege, about the Tupamaros insurgency in Uruguay and "Missing", about the aftermath of the deposition of Salvador Allende in Chile (though the country is not actually named). 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. Increasingly desperate and running out of money, he decides to eliminate his likely rivals for advertised positions in the same field. Bruno is no psychopath, murder is not easy for him, but he truly believes he is nothing without his job – he literally seeks Arcadia (earthly paradise) through his work since the job he is after is with the (fictitious) Arcadia paper company. Some of the best lines in the movie come from Bruno's encounters with his victims, two of whom, unaccountably, have English surnames (Hutchinson, Barnet) Some have suggested that there is an air of unreality in the story since Bruno would in real life be quickly detected. Virtually every hit is bungled in some way, he uses his own car and the same World War 2 handgun, and the police are on his trail. However, getting away with it, or at least not getting caught by the forces of law and order, is par for the course in this type of black comedy. Costa Gavras is obviously out to show the injustice of it all but he lays the blame on the system. Incidentally, if you find the ending mysterious have a look in the credits for the name of the character played by the lovely Vanessa Larre.While Bruno is out bumping off his rivals there is trouble on the home front. His teenage son has been caught shoplifting and Bruno returns to thwart the police investigation. 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. She is blissfully ignorant as to what Bruno is really up to.Jose Garcia reminds me of Kevin Spacey and he makes an effective deranged Everyman. 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.

Eumenides_0 Continuing my mission to watch every item in Costa-Gavras' filmography, I turned to Le Couperet, one of his most recent movies. Written with long-time collaborator Jean-Claude Grumberg, this is the adaptation of a Donald E. 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.

alejandro-luque *** 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