Capital

Costa-Gavras, one of cinema's most prolific promoters of political indignation, here takes on the financial wheeling and dealing that brought on the 2008 global economic collapse. The title obviously serves as an echo of Marx's Das Kapital, and like that famous tome, this film hones in on the excesses of the capitalist system, focusing on Marc Tourneuil (Gad Elmaleh), young CEO of a French bank (thrust into his job thanks to the illness of his predecessor), who aims to secure his position by laying off a large percentage of the firm's employees in order to increase profitability. Marc also has to contend with the machinations of American hedge fund manager Dittmar Rigule (Gabriel Byrne), whose offers of assistance mask an attempt to take over the bank. And Marc has to find some time off to indulge his lust for a beautiful supermodel (Liya Kebede), especially since his wife (Natacha Régnier) is a prissy moralist. Capital falls squarely in the tradition of films such as Wall Street and Margin Call, but the rhetoric here about a reverse Robin Hood mentality feels both heavy-handed and somewhat behind the curve, although the fact that most of the sharks wind up still swimming—unpunished, despite (or because of) their dastardly tactics—is right on the money. A strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)