Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Bento de Espinosa I'm a big fan of Costa-Gavras' political films, they really are the best in their genre. I was taken by surprise by this film, because I had no idea Gavras can make funny films also, since he normally is so political/critical.This movie is a delicious dark comedy! It's intelligent and thematizes a current and therefore important subject. All actors are very good, but José Garcia really is something special! I don't remember having seen him before and am happy to see a "new" funny face. He is not only funny, but also very natural, believable. I like that he looks Spanish/Portuguese, being it a French movie.A man that can make political movies, but also such good comedies, like Gavras does, really is a gifted man! I'll watch this movie again.

jotix100 We are introduced to Bruno Davert as he is being recognized for his many years of service for a paper manufacturer. Little does Bruno know that soon he will be on the unemployment line because the company has decided to outsource the work to a Rumanian firm. Thus begins the story of a man's sudden descent into a crisis caused by the situation in most of the industrialized nations.Bruno devises a scheme to eliminate the possible competition that are looking for the same position he is after. For that purpose, he rents a mail box at the post office after he has placed a phony ad asking worthy candidates for the same position he covets. Bruno selects the five men and a manager that will have to be eliminated for his chances to be better. How he will go about it presents a problem: he wants to use an old pistol that belonged to his father in WWII.Life at home has begun to deteriorate. His loyal wife Marlene has taken part time jobs as a nurse in order to help in a household without steady income. Their married life also suffers because the strain Bruno is going through trying his hand as an assassin. Not content with that, the Daverts find out in the worse way their son has been stealing software programs and faces jail time if found out.Bruno goes through a killing spree eliminating the competitors. His resolve is almost shattered when he has a chance to meet with one of his would be victims that he has followed to a department store after setting up an interview he doesn't intend to keep with the man. In this unhappy man Bruno sees himself as in a mirror.As luck would have it, Bruno seems to get away with murder, but does he really? The last scene of the movie offers a puzzle that is left to the viewer to solve."Le Couperet", directed by Costa-Gavras, is a black comedy for our times. In it, we are taken to see first hand the indignities anyone has to face when corporations such as the one that employed Bruno Davert decide to take the business some place else, leaving the stranded employees to fend for themselves. The film is an adaptation of Donald Westlake's novel "The Ax". Mr. Westlake's books lend themselves for screen treatments such as the one Mr. Costa-Gavras has given the material. Some commentary to this forum suggests this movie to be a film noir, but to tell the truth, only the one sequence might fall on that category and nothing else. It's rather a black comedy of mystery and suspense in our humble opinion.The best thing in the film is Jose Garcia, an actor with a face that goes perfectly with his character. Mr. Garcia was a happy choice, as he never disappoints. Karin Viard appears as Marlene a wife at the end of her rope because her world is crashing on her. Ulrich Tukur and the excellent Oliver Gourmet are seen among the accomplished cast doing amazing work for the director."Le Couperet" is worth the prize of admission, or the DVD rental.

sweatmaker I completely disagree with the reviewer who called this a'TV movie'. it's anything but... (did he see it on a TV screen?). It's a thriller that actually deserves to be called by that over-used adjective 'Hitchcockian' as we gradually identify more and more what the lead character who starts off as what, a hit-man, a serial-killer? As we get into his motives and hit and miss way of carrying them out together with unrelated encounters with the cops we are willing, despite ourselves, that he will succeed. Why does this not have a US distributor yet? I saw it with an appreciative crowd in Paris earlier this year. Jose Garcia who I last saw overdoing it in a so-so comedy called APRES VOUS is very good as the ordinary guy pushed to the limit and Karen Viard also always watchable as his blandly oblivious wife, who also becomes involved via a different set of crimes involving their family.

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