The Crisis = La Crise

A heartfelt French comedy whose warmth and humour is matched equally by its biting and poignant commentary on social, political and racial issues in France in the early 1990s. Victor (Vincent Lindon), a smart and successful lawyer, is deserted by his wife and fired on the same day. He turns to his colleagues, his friends, his family, but all have troubled and complex lives and have no time to deal with his as well. Enter Michou (Patrick Timsit), a wandering barfly who attaches himself to Victor, both comedic and wise in the effect he has on the lives he touches and most of all on Victor and on the journey through which his sudden crisis takes him. Through their interaction with each other and those around them, brief or lasting, and the humorous antics that befall the unlikely pair, Serreau constructs a striking fairy tale with a subtle political, social and racial critique that confronts the dual existence of humanity and hypocrisy in its many forms in contemporary society. In French with English subtitles.