L'Argent poster & wallpaper

Alain Aptekman, Beatrice Tabourin, Bruno Lapeyre

The last film by veteran writer/director Robert Bresson, the French crime drama L'Argent (Money) was based on a short story by Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. Looking for some quick cash, young man Norb...( read more  read more... )ert (Marc Ernest Fourneau) gets a phony 500 franc note from his friend Matrial (Bruno Lapeyre). After he spends it at a photography shop, the unscrupulous shop owner (Didier Baussy) decides to pass it on to someone else. The unfortunate victim is honest delivery man Yvon Targe (Christian Patey), who doesn't realize the bill is a fake. When he tries to buy some food with it, he is arrested. He tries to sue the photographer, but shop assistant Lucien (Vincent Risterucci) has been bribed to stay quiet about the transaction. The scandal causes Yvon to lose his job. In order to support his family, he tries driving a getaway car for some criminals. Unfortunately, their heist doesn't go so well, and he is sent to prison for three years. While incarcerated, his child dies of diphtheria and his wife (Caroline Lang) leaves him. Crazed, Yvon turns to theft, violent crime, and eventually cold-blooded murder. L'Argent earned (Bresson) the Director's Prize at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival.~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

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85% liked it

2,110 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Robert Bresson

Release Date: January 1, 1983

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DVD Release Date: May 24, 2005

Stats: 111 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (111)

  • benjaminguilbert2
    August 12, 2008
    benjaminguilbert2
    Tedious, really tedious, unbearably tedious...
  • bort16
    March 21, 2008
    bort16
    This is a hard film to rate for any number of reasons. It is challenging for one, and not really a movie for another. L'argent is more a philosophical essay on celluloid than anything else. This could be said for any or all of Bresson's films for that matter. His style of fil...( read more)mmaking is not really cinematic. It is philosophical and, to quote Paul Schrader, transcendental.
    L'Argent is a tale about the evils of money and materialist ideology. Bresson has been spoken openly about his shock and fear at the ever increasing materialism in society.
    The film begins as a spoiled school boy is refused the necessary money by his father to repay a debt. He goes to a friend who gives him a counterfeit bill, which they then go off to spend. They go to a photoshop, and buy something cheap so as to get as much real change as possible. The woman sees that it is fake, but accepts it anyway so as to make the sale. Her husband, the owner, scolds her for it, but does not report it, and instead passes it off to an unsuspecting oil delivery man, Yvon. He then goes to a restaurant and tries to get a drink, unknowingly using the fake bill. He is arrested, and the shop owners and their cashier refuse to acknowledge the man not only got the bill from them, but was ever in the shop to begin with. From this incident Yvon's life spirals out of control. He is let off without jailtime, but the scandal costs him his job. He turns to a life of crime to make money. He gets thrown in jail, his wife leaves him, and his child dies.
    From here the film goes really outthere, as Yvon becomes an axe murderer upon his release. It is certainly far fetched, but I think that may have been Bresson's point.
    The movie is a damnation of the costs of money (no pun) replacing the sense of God. Bresson once said that today there is no more God in the world, there is only money, which has become God.
    The film's total disregard for a plausible narrative and sense of restraint is frustrating. It is a short film, and it feels that way, as Bresson wastes no time getting from point A to point B. That is not to say that the film is not well directed though, it is superbly directed with the care and hands of a great master of the medium.
    It is difficult to comprehend why Yvon does what he does once released from jail by following any logical reasoning of the narrative, but that is the point Bresson wanted to make - the lust for money and material possession and the alienation and disenfranchisement from a purposful existence causes people to do illogical and irrational things. Bresson uses this extreme (and i do not mean that lightly) example to highlight this.
    Bresson accomplished exactly what he was trying to do with L'Argent, and it is difficult to criticize him for that.
  • Sleaze
    May 17, 2007
    Sleaze
    Cold and wodden minimalist cinema with an intelligent script at it's heart. More than a strong whiff of pretension but there's something about that makes it worth a rental at least.

    Full review to follow.
  • Cinema101
    November 16, 2006
    Cinema101
    5/10

    A daring experiment gone not-so-horribly wrong, I hate to sound like a lemming saying this but, I found this film pretentious to the point of insult and downright boring.
  • jmankas
    September 8, 2009
    jmankas
    the interpretations, lines, and emotions of the characters are as robotic and cold as money, and the greed that comes with it. I liked the film, but at the same time, this kind of concept bored me. 3 stars are the best i can give.
  • vertigoo
    August 14, 2009
    vertigoo
    from a Tolstoy's novel...the purity of Bresson.
  • reytutiver
    February 29, 2008
    reytutiver
    A pretty far-fetched tale concerning the evil of money and humankind's relationship with it. I feel Bresson was close to perfecting his style in "l'Argent" as the framing is a thing of absolute beauty. I just don't know if, as a whole, it works as well as his earlier masterpieces.
  • simondor
    December 12, 2007
    simondor
    Les "modèles" de Bresson - acteurs qui ne jouent pas mais qui agissent - sont ici de véritables éléments de l'intrigue, car la psychologie des personnages n'est pas décelable. On ne sait jamais de quel "côté" ils sont rendus.
  • kurosawian
    June 29, 2007
    kurosawian
    Bresson's final masterpiece gets inside the head of a criminal. Every image is worthy of the greatest attention. A true master filmmaker.
  • nick547
    June 12, 2007
    nick547
    Scathing and hard to watch. Bresson was a genius.

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L'Argent Trivia

  • What was the name of Robert Bresson's final film?  Answer »
  • In what French town did Truffaut's "L'argent de Poche" take place?  Answer »
  • 'L'Argent' is a fascinating study of class and corruption, inspired by Leo Tolstoy's short story entitled 'The Forged Coupon'. It is also the last film directed by what great French auteur?  Answer »
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