L'argent: A cold, hard look at how cash ruins everything

Is it worth your time?

If you want to feel good, stay away. Far away. But if you have an appetite for cinema that feels like a razor blade—clean, sharp, and totally indifferent to your comfort—then watch it. People who need a hero to root for or a moral lesson to chew on will probably hate it. It’s just too cold for that.

The whole thing kicks off because of a 500-franc note. It’s almost laughable how small the catalyst is. A few kids pass a fake bill, a shopkeeper accepts it, and then the gears of the system start grinding people into dust. It feels less like a tragedy and more like a mathematical equation where the result is always ruin.

I couldn't help but notice the way the camera barely moves. It’s so static. It doesn’t follow the actors; it just waits for them to walk into the frame. There’s a scene where someone is just opening a door, and the sound of the latch feels like a gunshot. It’s loud. Aggressive, even. It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in A Fight to the Finish, though the two movies couldn't be more different in their soul.

The performances are... weird. The actors don't really 'act' in the way you’re used to. They just recite lines like they’re reading a grocery list. At first, it’s jarring. You want them to show some emotion, cry a little, get angry. But then you realize that’s the point. The money has sucked the humanity right out of them. They’re just pieces on a board.

There's a sequence involving a kitchen and an axe that I’m probably going to be thinking about for weeks. It’s not flashy. It’s not shot from a dozen different angles. It’s just brutally direct. You see the movement, you hear the impact, and then the scene just ends. No music swell to tell you how to feel. Just silence.

Odd bits and pieces:

• The lighting in the jail cells is so flat it makes everyone look like ghosts.
• I spent a solid five minutes wondering why nobody in this town ever smiles. Like, ever.
• The editing feels like a heartbeat that’s starting to fail.
• It makes Carnival of Love look like a cartoon by comparison.

It’s a strange experience. You’re watching people lose their minds over a piece of paper, and yet, the movie feels totally sane. It’s the world that’s broken, not the film. Maybe that’s why it’s so hard to look away. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion, except the car is just a stack of bills blowing in the wind. 💸