A Decent Man

This is a subject André Cayatte or Yves Boisset (see "Dupont-lajoie") could have treated ;here Emmanuel Finkiel thoroughly renews the subject ; whereas his former colleagues would have focused on the wrong man and his unfair accuser , the director builds a complete social context .

Eddy has got a chip on his shoulder ;we do not know much about his past ,except for his alcoholism ;but he was probably born under a bad sign ,on the wrong side of town ;as a precedent user noticed ,Eddy recalls a Greek hero ,a "decent man" whose fate is sealed as soon as he appears . He longs for a peaceful life between his wife and his young son ;he tries his best to fit in this ruthless society ,but he cannot; he wants to be a sales-clerk ,but remains a fork-lift truck operator ;"I would be forced to dismiss one of our employees " says Régis,his sympathetic chef .But Regis represents all that Eddy hates deep in his heart : the man with good prospects ,who also helps his wife (nothing sexual,in spite of his last phone call), par excellence the guy who integrates well into the French society .Hence the horrible final ,which for once ,makes sense ,even though many people will find it unbearable -but in our world , not rare anymore unfortunately.

The innocent young Arab becomes some kind of scapegoat ,a way to take revenge on the society ; Finkiel does not take the easy way: we hardly have time to feel for the chastized innocent ;this miscarriage of justice , though hateful, is only a detail in a tragic picture of the descent into hell of an underdog ;his victim is only a figure , his lines are kept to the minimum :in the past ,the directors I mention above would have detailed the Eddy/Ahmed affair when the men are brought face to face and we would have attended a looong trial .

This movie is one of most desperate works of the decade .Nicolas Duvauchelle portrays this decent man,this fallen angel, with a rare dramatic intensity ; he gets strong support from Mélanie Laurent as his unfortunate wife.

I would recommend it ,but only for people with a strong heart.

Many motifs to see this film. the admirable performance of Nicolas Duvachelle. the second - tragic story of a lonely man. lost in his good intentions. fighting for be part of society. full of good intentions. victim of a sort of curse. ignored, full of angry. and only victim of circumstances. a confusion, the desire to be a good father and husband, a sort of Peter Pan syndrome. a young man looking for normal life. honest and out of every chance to convince. a film who seems familiar. but , proposing a different angle about a form of survive who can not work. for a sort of guilty who reminds the old Greek tragedy. a film for reflect. about a form of vulnerability. and about the worse answer to the every day challenges.