Wow! Such a good movie.

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

"Le Couperet" certainly gets off to a gripping start, and more or less remains gripping for the duration. It is by turns funny, shocking, and thought-provoking (it was probably not Gavras' intention, but it reminded me of Woody Allen's "Crimes And Misdemeanors"). It is also quite prophetic, considering that most European economies are in a much worse state in 2015 than they were in 2005. There is great attention to detail, from the effect of the gun's recoil to a man who has never tried shooting before, to murderous activities being almost exposed by random events involving people who have no idea what's going on. However, at a full two hours, it may be slightly too long. And the very ending is infuriatingly abrupt. *** out of 4.

I'm a big fan of Costa-Gavras' political films, they really are the best in their genre. I was taken by surprise by this film, because I had no idea Gavras can make funny films also, since he normally is so political/critical.This movie is a delicious dark comedy! It's intelligent and thematizes a current and therefore important subject. All actors are very good, but José Garcia really is something special! I don't remember having seen him before and am happy to see a "new" funny face. He is not only funny, but also very natural, believable. I like that he looks Spanish/Portuguese, being it a French movie.A man that can make political movies, but also such good comedies, like Gavras does, really is a gifted man! I'll watch this movie again.

Costa Gavras has a reputation for very serious and very political thrillers. He first came to prominence 40 years ago with "Z", a film about a political assassination in his native Greece. Of his oeuvre since then I have seen and enjoyed "State of Siege, about the Tupamaros insurgency in Uruguay and "Missing", about the aftermath of the deposition of Salvador Allende in Chile (though the country is not actually named). This film, based on a 1997 novel by the prolific American crime writer Donald E Westlake, could be described as Costa Gravas lite, as it has many of the elements of black comedy.The protagonist, Bruno (Jose Garcia), has lost his well-paid job as a senior chemist at a paper manufacturing company owing to a corporate merger. Increasingly desperate and running out of money, he decides to eliminate his likely rivals for advertised positions in the same field. Bruno is no psychopath, murder is not easy for him, but he truly believes he is nothing without his job – he literally seeks Arcadia (earthly paradise) through his work since the job he is after is with the (fictitious) Arcadia paper company. Some of the best lines in the movie come from Bruno's encounters with his victims, two of whom, unaccountably, have English surnames (Hutchinson, Barnet) Some have suggested that there is an air of unreality in the story since Bruno would in real life be quickly detected. Virtually every hit is bungled in some way, he uses his own car and the same World War 2 handgun, and the police are on his trail. However, getting away with it, or at least not getting caught by the forces of law and order, is par for the course in this type of black comedy. Costa Gavras is obviously out to show the injustice of it all but he lays the blame on the system. Incidentally, if you find the ending mysterious have a look in the credits for the name of the character played by the lovely Vanessa Larre.While Bruno is out bumping off his rivals there is trouble on the home front. His teenage son has been caught shoplifting and Bruno returns to thwart the police investigation. His wife (Karin Viard) suspects Bruno might be having an affair, though since the story has been relocated to France from New England she is only mildly upset about the possibility, and they troop off to a marriage counselor. She is blissfully ignorant as to what Bruno is really up to.Jose Garcia reminds me of Kevin Spacey and he makes an effective deranged Everyman. The minor characters are well realised, particularly Ulrik Tukur as Hutchinson and Olivier Gourmet as the man whose job Bruno is after. Karin Viard is effective as the baffled wife, and Geordy Monfils filled the bill as their errant son.I also liked Olga Grumberg in a small but significant role as a contemptuous job interviewer.Costa Gavras has sugared the pill a bit here, but the film remains much stronger stuff, than, say, "Up in the Air", Jason Reitman's recent take on giving people the sack.

Maybe the best 'noir' movie I've seen in the last years, and definitively the best Donald Westlake adaptation so far, "Arcadia" is the story of a man obsessed with a job, who thinks that the only way to get it is killing every candidate who can be better than him, and must cope with his many mistakes and family problems. It sounds like a tragedy, or a drama, but it is the best piece of black (or not so black) humor combined with noir I remember, which is surprising: I didn't know that Costa-Gavras had so much sense of humor. There are many symbols, allegories, but above it all, it mentions every controversial and denounce topic in existence for just one, two or three minutes, just to mention it. The result is, incredibly and amazingly, funny, intellectually engaging, extremely suspenseful (the results of every situation and, at last, the end of the movie are unpredictable) and a master class of narrative progression, at least until the last 20 minutes, where the movie drags. But until then it is a flawless masterpiece, and it deserves to be watched over and over again. José García is another surprise, a very good comedian.