Orpailleur (2009)

This is an important day for Marc Chanois, an insurance advisor heading toward middle age: it's his fiancée Sabine's birthday, her parents arrive in Paris and Marc will meet them for dinner to announce the engagement (her father can't stand him), he's bought Sabine a Spitfire, and his most important client is to sign a policy. But, as the day wears on, he's vexed by an incompetent secretary, the unexpected return of a girlfriend he hasn't seen in five years, squatters who use his office at night, the jealous former lover of a flight attendant who lives in the building, and his boss's unexpected return from a Swiss clinic. Will he reach Sabine in one piece?

A film-crew in the early twentieth century, the cabaret known as ‘Le Fol Espoir’ has been transformed into an amateur soundstage. The motion picture tells the story of a ship and its passengers – from the famous opera singer down to the petty criminal. The film is an optimistic political fable intended to educate the masses. There’s comedy aplenty – slapstick punches, custard pies and gags reminiscent of Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle; there’s adventure, high drama moments of great bravura , and passionate love stories. The filming begins on June 28th 1914, the day of the Archiduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination in Sarajevo, the gunpowder that sets Europe alight. It ends with news of another assassination – that of Jean Jaures on July 31st followed by the general conscription of August 1st, heralded by church bells across France. The allegory of the shipwreck is filmed at breakneck pace during the last five weeks before war breaks out.

The cynical boss of a big insurance agency invites his top-salary employees to spend a week-end in his country house. A modest clerical worker, also invited, discovers the hidden reason for this party - and decides to take advantage of it.

In search of the excitement of their youth, four retired people play gangster and make plans to rob the till in their retirement home. But when they learn of an upcoming ministerial visit, they decide to move up a gear and make the most of this unexpected event.