Le Couperet
France,
2005, 122 min
Shown in 2005
CREDITS
OTHER
COMMENTS
Opening Night film in 2005. Costa-Gavras appeared in person with his wife/producer Michèle Ray-Gavras.A laid-off worker devises a novel approach to finding a new job—by physically “eliminating” any fellow applicants—in this mercilessly entertaining comedy from director Costa-Gavras. Based on a novel by American author Donald E. Westlake, The Ax puts outsourcing, downsizing and other 21st-century business trends where they belong: on the chopping block. When we first meet the middle-aged Bruno, he appears to be a not-so-polished international assassin, but as he confesses his life’s story we realize that murder is merely a stepping stone to a less (or more) ruthless dream: to rejoin corporate life. Having been made redundant from his job in the papermaking industry, Bruno is unemployed, bitter and humiliated for over two years until he decides to adapt capitalism’s market forces to the labor market; in other words, to eliminate all competition, by any means necessary. When a prime job at a paper factory opens up, Bruno gathers the names of potential candidates and starts “downsizing.” Still a loving father and good husband, Bruno juggles dinner with his kids, couples counseling with his lovely wife and body disposals. José García gives Bruno a bumbling appeal in his singleminded approach to avoiding “the ax,” while Olivier Gourmet (La Petite Chartreuse, SFIFF 2005; La Promesse, SFIFF 1997) is suitably steel-jawed as a rival businessman high on Bruno’s redundancy list. The Ax takes the logic of capitalism to its illogical extreme and makes sure you’ll never hear a CEO talk of “making a killing” the same way again.