The Ax

The Ax

2005 · 118 min · FR · 6.9 (236 votes)
Dir. Costa-Gavras · Starring José Garcia, Karin Viard, Ulrich Tukur, Olivier Gourmet, Yvon Back, Thierry Hancisse · Music Armand Amar

“Some people would die to get (him) this job.”

ComedyCrimeDramaThriller

Bruno 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, optimism turns to desperation. His wife works two jobs, and their marriage slowly deteriorates 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.

VIBE

A darkly funny, yet deeply unsettling look at a man's descent into madness when faced with unemployment. It's a quirky, character-driven piece that captures the quiet desperation of economic hardship with a surprisingly absurd touch.

darkly comedicabsurdistunsettlingbleaksteadyquirky indiecharacter studydry humoreconomic anxietyloss of identitydesperationmiddle-class malaise
based on novel or bookcapitalismeconomyunemploymentcorporationpaper industryunemployedluger