A boy failed to ask his parents for pocket money, so he used it as his own watch and got a counterfeit 500 franc note. After that, the counterfeit bill changed hands among many people and finally fell into the hands of a young man named Ivan. Evan tries to spend the counterfeit bill at the restaurant, but the waiter finds out. The police arrested him because they believed he was involved in the counterfeit money-trafficking case, but the judge read him as a first offender and did not sentence him. After Evan was released, he lost his job. Without money, he had to go to the bank with his friends to rob a bank, but he fell into the hands of the police again, was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison. This film is Bresson's last work, adapted from Tolstoy. His short story "Fake Coupon" won the Best Director Award in the main competition unit of the 36th Cannes Film Festival.
Money is just a materialized indicator, chosen by this era to expose the holes in people's hearts. The restrained and elegant scenes and precise shots, the extremely simplified narrative style, and the butterfly effect caused by a counterfeit banknote show the darkness of human nature. The character's expression is stern, stiff, and seems to be hiding something, and it may take a long time to see it. A classic, worth thinking about.
View more about L'Argent reviews
