Brilliant and touching

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

"We contact business, banks, we pretend to be their president and with a rather extraordinary gift of the gab we manage to get large amounts of money," Chikli, 49, told French television in 2010.This movie is based upon Chikli's true story ,although the names were changed.The first thirty minutes are a delight;treated as a comedy ,or a spoof on those thrillers where instructions are given by phone, there's never a dull moment ;the bank executive's naivete knows no bounds as she is told she is "chosen" because "they " rely on her ,she is on an assignment ,France's future is at stake,blah blah blah .Vincent Elbaz is so persuasive that the viewer himself does believe his patter."We're leaving for Scotland !we're gonna fish for salmon !"says the con artist to his victim sitting on the toilet seat.They should have finished the movie here ;in this part of the movie,every line hits home ,including that line of the not-so-smart brother who wants to retrain and go into tree cultivation.The rest of the movie suffers from a desultory screenplay ,sometimes repetitive ;the writers hesitate between comedy and drama ,and the story lacks focus .But,I say it again ,the first third is worth the price of admission!