Film Review
Recent scandals in the world of high finance are evidently inspiring a new
strain of thriller in French cinema at the moment. After Vincent Garenq's
L'Enquête (2015), which
lifted the lid on the Clearstream affair,
L'Outsider offers a profile
of the man who reputedly very nearly broke one of France's leading investment
banks, Société Générale. Adapted from Jérôme
Kerviel's 2010 book
L'Engrenage : mémoires d'un trader, the
film naturally takes the side of Kerviel, who received a prison sentence
after being convicted for fraudulent trading that resulted in his bank losing
4.9 million euros in 2008. Unfortunately, the film's authors lacked
the courage of their convictions (or just feared being dragged into the law-courts
by SG) and so their attempts to point the finger in the direction of the
bank and identify who exactly was to blame are pretty feeble. Far from
shedding much light on the affair,
L'Outsider merely succeeds in adding
further murk to an already murky intrigue.
The film also suffers from being compared with Martin Scorsese's
The Wolf
of Wall Street (2013), which tackles the same subject with far more flair,
guts and authenticity. The film that director Christophe Barratier
(best known for his debut feature
Les
Choristes) serves up isn't even a pale imitation of Scorsese's film.
It is merely a tepid, dawdling thriller that fails spectacularly to arouse
our interest in its protagonist - not surprisingly as he is so lacking in
charisma and charm. Arthur Dupont's portrayal of Jérôme
Kerviel makes him out to be neither a hero nor a villain, just a characterless
nonentity who allowed himself to become a cog in a machine that was bound
to fail at some point, owing to poor regulation and inadequate controls within
the bank. Kerviel's own culpability is understandably glossed over
(this is, after all, his point of view), but what is less easy to forgive
is the film's failure to offer any clear pointers as to who exactly was at
fault. No wonder the film proved to be a spectacular flop at the French
box office.
© James Travers 2017
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Jérôme Kerviel was just 23 when he was taken on by the French
investment bank Société Générale in 2000.
At first, he was employed in the Middle Office, overseeing the accounts of
traders operating on the trading floors. In time, he became a trader
himself and, encouraged by his superior Keller to make as much money as possible
in the least time, he soon made his name by raking in a fortune through risky
financial transactions. But like any gambler, Kerviel's run of good
fortune could not go on for ever. Eight years after he joined the bank
he brought it to the brink of ruin, by accumulating losses that ran into
billions of euros. Kerviel was just one of many rogue traders who very
nearly brought about the collapse of the entire banking system in 2008.
But who was really to blame - Kerviel or the bank that allowed him to play
roulette with its investors' money...?
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.