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The Ax
The Ax
Le Couperet
2005 ·118 min ·France, Belgium, Spain · 16+
7.3
IMDb 7.3 КП 7.0 RT 80%
Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Director: Costa-Gavras
📖 Based on the novel «The Ax» byDonald E. Westlake
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Bruno loved his job as a middle manager at a paper company, but optimistically views being laid off as an opportunity. After two years of searching for a comparable position, optimism turns to desperation. His wife works two jobs, and their marriage slowly deteriorates as their hold on the middle class slips away. Bruno concocts a grimly audacious plan to identify and kill his fellow job applicants so that he is the only qualified person left.

Budget: $5.4M
Worldwide: $4.9M
José Garcia
Actor
Karin Viard
Actor
Geordy Couturiau
Actor
🎬 César Awards 2006 — Best Actor
🎬 César Awards 2006 — Best Adapted Screenplay

Costa-Gavras's adaptation of Donald Westlake’s novel is a sharp, atmospheric social satire that uses the plight of an unemployed middle-aged man to critique the dehumanizing nature of late-stage capitalism. While the film is marketed as a dark comedy, viewers often find it more of a tense, unsettling thriller that prioritizes systemic observation over traditional humor.

Acting José García’s commanding performance anchors the film, effectively capturing the protagonist's descent from desperate job seeker to ruthless predator.
Direction Costa-Gavras avoids heavy-handed moralizing, instead utilizing a clear, precise narrative style to expose the self-destructive mechanisms of the labor market.
Theme The film’s critique of capitalism is visually and thematically reinforced through deliberate, suffocating depictions of class division and corporate advertising.
Humor Views on the film's tone are divided: some appreciate the sharp, cynical humor, while others find the experience entirely humorless and oppressive.
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