Gilles Perret counterattacks to demystify finance

Wrestling can be a playful and fun fight. In the battle between the iron pot and the earthen pot, the strongest does not always win. It is on these presuppositions that Gilles Perret relies in Takeover, his first fiction feature film, an implicit sequel to My globalization , his documentary released in theaters in 2006. By tackling the mysteries of finance and more specifically Leverage Buy Out (LBO, leveraged purchase), the filmmaker tackles a potentially tedious issue. And since he doesn’t do things by halves, he doesn’t hesitate to use barbaric terms for all those who are put off by the economy.

Gilles Perret does not want to be taken by trials of incompetence and, even in this fiction, he uses cinema as an educational tool. However, he avoids the pitfall of the off-putting film by taking the side of humor, in a social comedy that has its eye on the side of its glorious elders from across the Channel. There are a few Virt use, by Mark Herman, The F ull Monty, by Peter Cattaneo, or Ken Loach by the part of the angels in its attachment to a territory and in its propensity to salute a know-how. The story is set against the valley of the Arve, within a bar turning company. This corner of Haute-Savoie specializes in this industry of machining high-precision parts intended mainly for the automotive, aeronautical and medical sectors.

Humor to defy fate

Cédric (Pierre Deladonchamps), a highly skilled worker and machine inspector, is annoyed by derailed equipment, staff reductions and incessant requests for increased productivity. The investment fund, owner of the company, pretends to ignore the exhaustion of the workforce and manages with a staggering lack of humanity the accidents at work. When Cédric learns of the resale project to another investment fund, he sees red. He decides to react to save the industrial tool and the job. Germs in his mind the idea of ​​a recovery. But how to deal with the behemoths of finance? A timely meeting allows him to consider the response. Cédric and his childhood friends will counter-attack on a ground where they are not expected and generate unexpected support.

Walter, return to resistance, Happy Days and the social installed Gilles Perret in the landscape of committed documentaries. His other works co-produced with François Ruffin, I want sun, on the yellow vests, or Stand up womenaround the fight led to reassess the trades of the link, confirmed this anchoring. Takeover continues its work begun in the cinema of reality by re-enchanting the collective struggle with a band of determined merry men. This finance for dummies turns into a Savoyard feel good movie. A way of inviting the spectators not to let themselves be stunned by defeatist speeches enjoining them to accept what is presented to them as inevitable. M.M.