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      The Ax

      2005 2 hr. 2 min. Comedy Drama Crime Mystery & Thriller List
      80% 5 Reviews Tomatometer 82% 2,500+ Ratings Audience Score Bruno (José Garcia) loved his job as a middle manager at a paper company, but optimistically views being laid off as an opportunity. After two years of searching for a comparable position, the optimism turns to desperation. His wife, Marlene (Karine Viard), is working two jobs, and their marriage is deteriorating as their hold on the middle class slips away. Bruno concocts a grimly audacious plan to identify and kill his fellow job applicants so that he is the only qualified person left. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member So thrilled and wet hands. How condition affects the minds. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member Tense little suspenser that isn't as powerful in its social commentary as Z or The Confession, but still has that classic Gavras wit and never lets itself get bogged down in overexplanation. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Black comedy that wants badly to be "delicious" but instead sputters along, dragging out its point long after we "get it". Not that Costa-Gavras has made a bad film here, just one that could have been punchier and more incisive. José Garcia plays a paper company executive who is let go when his company downsizes and relocates to Romania; after being out of work for 2 years, he stumbles on the brilliant idea of collecting résumés from the competition (other unemployed ex-paper company execs) and then killing the best of the lot. We see several of these murders staged for presumably comic effect. At the end of the line is the current occupant of the coveted job played expertly by Dardenne Bros. favourite, Olivier Gourmet. Along for the ride are spouse Karin Viard (trying her best to hold things together) and two kids, one of whom seems to be following in criminal footsteps. (The family drama unfolds around the central action and sometimes distracts from it). Costa-Gavras wants us to see how inhumanely people are treated in the age of corporate competition but that joke isn't funny anymore. Still, there might be a sharper film buried here somewhere; Garcia is a Jack Lemmon-like figure and he carries the weight of the picture fairly well. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review robbie v Parodies the dehumanization of contemporary Capitalism and globalization in a darkly amusing way. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Just amazing!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member My pick as Costa-Gavras's best film, Le Couperet works simultaneously as a provocative thriller and a clever black comedy about corporate hypocrisy. Gavras directs with attention given to style and pace and the script is intelligent and multilayerd. Jose Garcia is also a great protagonist as he is able to make a sympathetic and intriguing performance as the films greatest hero and villain. If you like thrillers, or jet black comedies, this movie delivers the goods in both regards. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Ax

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      Critics Reviews

      View All (5) Critics Reviews
      Jonathan Kiefer Sacramento News & Review Rated: 4/5 May 6, 2010 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews It's a film better suited for the talents of the Coen Brothers. Rated: C+ Feb 1, 2008 Full Review Amber Wilkinson Eye for Film Garcia - reminiscent of a young Jack Lemmon - puts the hang into dog perfectly and the script will bite your arm off. Rated: 4/5 Jul 31, 2007 Full Review Urban Cinefile Critics Urban Cinefile It's a black comedy with plenty to say, much of it about the self serving righteousness of Bruno's bourgeois peers May 13, 2006 Full Review Boyd van Hoeij european-films.net The darkly serious tone of the script, Costa-Gavras' crisp direction and the dead-on acting (pun intended) make Le couperet a very intelligent and hilarious satire. Apr 7, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Bruno (José Garcia) loved his job as a middle manager at a paper company, but optimistically views being laid off as an opportunity. After two years of searching for a comparable position, the optimism turns to desperation. His wife, Marlene (Karine Viard), is working two jobs, and their marriage is deteriorating as their hold on the middle class slips away. Bruno concocts a grimly audacious plan to identify and kill his fellow job applicants so that he is the only qualified person left.
      Director
      Costa-Gavras
      Executive Producer
      Olivier Bronckart
      Screenwriter
      Costa-Gavras, Jean-Claude Grumberg
      Production Co
      K.G. Productions
      Genre
      Comedy, Drama, Crime, Mystery & Thriller
      Original Language
      French (France)
      Sound Mix
      Dolby