Stavisky, l'escroc du siècle (2015) - full transcript
Paris, January 8, 1934
Crooks! Crooks!
Refund the Bayonne bonds!
Refund our Bayonne bonds!
Refund the Bayonne bonds!
Open the door.
Your savings bonds are fakes.
Listen!
All the banks,
all, have fallen victim
to this cheat, Stavisky.
We don't know a Stavisky.
Refund us.
Listen!
Not possible.
We're talking millions.
No! It's not impossible!
Pay us or it'll burn.
We'll set fire!
There's no cash.
We don't have money!
We'll burn it down!
Stavisky, Swindler of the Century
Calm down, Arlette,
calm down. What matters are you
and the kids. They're OK?
Yes, they're OK.
Did they get their gifts?
Yes, Sacha. Yes.
Sacha, it's not only about you.
Thousands have been ruined.
I know, darling.
You know nothing!
I get threats on the phone!
"Are you Stavisky,
the crook's wife?"
That's what they say!
It can't go on.
I can name
all those who profited
from the 700 million.
I have proof.
I talked to dad.
What did you say?
He can help you.
I beg you, stop.
Please.
Don't tell you dad.
OK?
Tomorrow I'm headed
to Geneva.
Meet me with the kids.
Sacha, what's going on?
Wait a second.
Sacha!
It's nothing.
It's fine, my love.
Everything's OK.
I have them.
I could topple the state.
Sacha...
I love you, Sacha.
I love you too.
I miss you.
Police!
Stavisky! Open up!
Open up!
Drop your gun!
Open the door!
Stavisky!
Bonny!
Get 2 doctors to confirm
Stavisky's suicide
and file the certificate.
- But...
he's alive.
- And alert the police.
Don't let anyone near.
I'll call Paris.
And remember,
I was never here.
Is it Sacha?
No. No.
No, papa.
No.
He had a gun. He killed himself
when the police came.
No.
It can't be!
It can't be.
He was to meet me and the kids.
It's the truth.
How can you be sure?
No.
You start?
I'll start.
Don't tell them.
Where are you going?
To the police. They must know.
It's dangerous. There's
riots everywhere.
But it's my husband!
I want to know what happened.
I will find out.
Orsay 22-30, please.
Yes?
We have a problem.
Deputies at the legislature
came to blows
over the government's questions
about the suicide
of swindler Serge Stavisky,
better known
as Serge Alexandre.
The corruption of
Stavisky's systemic fraud
allegedly riddled the state.
The far right is...
Oh, stop!
I didn't start it!
I didn't set fire
to the fucking bank!
- I have a complaint.
- I didn't throw
the Molotov cocktail!
I have a complaint.
I'm Arlette Stavisky,
wife of Serge Alexandre Stavisky.
- From the radio ?
Down with the bourgeoisie!
You, shut it!
Stavisky is dead.
What do you want?
What more do you want?
Mrs. Stavisky,
inspector Baldi, financial squad.
Come with me, ma'am.
Come.
Are you trying to get lynched?
We've had 1,000 arrests
since your husband fled.
- We killed him.
- Pardon?
We killed him!
It's a police matter,
national security, Mrs. Stavisky!
Or should I say Mrs. Alexandre?
Stavisky. My husband went by
Alexandre for business.
I'll file a complaint.
Accusing the police
means accusing the State!
But they killed my husband.
It wasn't suicide.
One Year Earlier
January 30, 1933
Like it?
You're divine.
Ms. Chanel told me,
"Marry that young woman.
"She's gold."
She was wrong.
You're a dream.
Micheline, I said, "to bed!"
How appropriate!
My princess!
Papa, my story! You promised.
I'm sorry. I can't contain
her when you go out.
And my story?
I already told you 2.
She does as she likes with you.
Like her mother.
Do you know the story
of Nils Holgersson?
Nils Holgersson
was a young man
who crossed the land of elves
upon a wild goose.
Sacha, there's 52 chapters.
Un chapter.
Just one chapter. One chapter.
You're handsome.
You're magnificent.
- Thanks.
- It was worth the wait.
- Sacha...
- It's cold for everyone.
Yes.
Ah, inspector!
Enter.
You're working late,
Mr. prosecutor.
Stavisky, Baldi.
Still Serge Stavisky,
a.k.a Serge Alexandre.
Fraud, forgery,
laundering, theft,
and embezzlement.
Everything he does is fake.
32 lawsuits, 27 dismissals.
Just one conviction,
and pardoned for
medical reasons.
The cases stack up,
but just evaporate
here at the courthouse.
I got the broker who says
he embezzled 5 million,
but that's not enough.
I want his head, Baldi.
I understand.
But I'm just a financial
inspector.
Yes.
Honest and hardworking,
and patriotic.
That's rare, real patriotism.
Especially these days.
It's a corruption crisis.
Half of the MPs
pocket money on the side.
- The others?
They're waiting their turn.
If we don't act,
others will in this chaos.
The far right.
Stock market crash,
unemployment, poverty,
recession...
How do you think Hitler
grabbed power in Berlin?
We're next.
I'm not sure Stavisky even realizes.
He's drunk on
success and beating the system.
He's not alone.
But he's the most talented,
and others protect him.
I need help, inspector.
I trust you.
If you accept to work for me,
prosecutor Albert Prince,
financial magistrate.
Yes.
Sacha.
Alice.
- Delighted to see you.
- Alice, Charles.
- Charles, Alice.
- Enchanté.
Papa! I'm glad.
It's great you could come.
- Sacha will love it.
- It's more for you
than for the 1,000th edition
of his rage.
Please...
Be nice, at least tonight.
He deserves it.
Good evening.
Dear Chalamont,
how are our colonies?
Good. Our natives are
France's pride and wealth.
- And are we theirs?
- We're teaching.
- Not so bad.
- Watch out, Valencourt.
Eventually they'll want
to run the Council of State.
Strange character.
He knows everyone,
everyone likes him,
but where does this
Serge Alexandre come from?
Three years ago I wouldn't
have put a penny on him,
and now he has an empire.
All the better for us.
Stella Kirov. Thank you.
What opulence
for a small paper!
It's a financial paper.
An insult for those who have.
The results
from Crédit Municipal in Orléans
prove you right, but how
have you made so much
with a pawnshop?
The recession's forcing people
to pawn their stuff.
I lend at a good rate.
André, what a joy!
Sacha, this party,
in your amazing theater,
it's magnificent.
My dear father-in-law
just said the same.
Have fun.
Lieuwen, don't tell me
your bank
also invested in this.
Why not?
Thanks to the left, pawnshops
are traded on the market,
and as long as I win, I'll play.
Ah, Mr. Alexandre!
I want to thank you for my daughter.
Switzerland has the best
private clinics.
And discretion.
It's a weight off our backs.
- I owe you.
- No, no.
I'll always help a friend.
Papa!
Come dance!
Come on.
There.
I knew the top
Chanel model.
Everything can be bought.
Except love.
But I can't teach you,
who married a transport
company, and you...
A tire factory?
My respects.
Bravo.
Sacha? Desbrosses is waiting.
Guillaume will join.
Let me go!
I want Alexandre!
- Let go!
- Wait, let him go.
I'm Serge Alexandre.
Maurin. I want
to invest with you,
but can't get a meeting.
I came.
You did well.
Is this how we treat
an investor?
Come to my office Tuesday,
Place Saint-Georges.
Meanwhile, enjoy yourself.
- At your service.
- Come.
So, Desbrosses?
How is our
Crédit d'Orléans ?
Bad, since M. Serva deposited
glass emeralds
billed as real ones.
How's that?
A system I invented.
- Are they real?
- These, yes.
Borrowed from Chaumet,
Place Vendôme,
long enough to authenticate
and make copies. Then,
I return the real to Chaumet
and use the fakes as
security at Crédit d'Orléans.
In return, my friend
here gives me
18 million in savings bonds
that I cash
at the Banque de France.
Brilliant, no?
But on paper, Crédit
is rich, though the coffers
are empty and the jewels are fakes.
Calm down. It'll be OK.
How do I pay dividends?
They'll figure it out!
Have I ever broken a promise?
Even once?
Calm down.
Have fun, have a drink.
Does your wife know
you're in Paris?
- No.
No? Then relax.
- Charles...
- You know Amandine, Gaëtan?
Lovely star of the Théâtre
de l'Empire. Let's call her.
She's adorable,
very persuasive.
You're playing with fire.
The banks trust us.
We'll open
another Crédit Municipal,
get loans,
bail out Orléans,
in the south, the sun.
- When will it stop?
Why should it stop?
Is life not good?
Everyone's after you:
le Prince, Inspector Bonny.
They're ready to bring you down.
Calm down. I'm untouchable.
You were less cautious
when I financed your campaign.
Amandine's coming.
Desbrosses is in good hands.
Let's hope he's loyal.
Sacha is totally unconscious.
And remember:
we're dancing on a minefield.
- What counts is dancing.
Why's he always in a huff?
Your criminal summons
awoke his ulcer.
- This again!
Conning a broker isn't a crime.
I could've fixed if Chalamont
had greased the right guy.
You need money to grease.
I'm the money.
Guillaume is the law.
He's an MP and my lawyer.
If he can't help me,
what's he for?
- So, Stella, this Stavisky?
- A swindler,
who amuses the bourgeois
by picking their pockets.
- With skill, too.
- They're not amused for long.
I have information
on his Crédit d'Orléans account.
Big-time trafficking
in fake emeralds.
Still in touch
with Inspector Bonny?
He'll pass the information
to the prosecutor, Prince.
The government is too compromised
to have Stavisky arrested.
They want to erase the evidence.
We'll stop them.
We'll publish just how
rotten the regime is,
with evidence. Stavisky
will bring them down with him.
Think about it!
A guilty Jew. A windfall,
after the Dreyfus affair.
When he falls,
people will take to the streets
and democracy
won't come back.
We'll take power as easy
as picking ripe fruit.
Pierre Bonny?
Inspector Bonny.
- Police.
- André Simon.
It was their wedding day.
Philippe Lieuwen mentioned
your concern for your son in law.
I know too little of Sacha:
his past, his relations,
his business, his fortune.
Suspicions?
I'm looking out for my daughter.
I know who you are:
you arrested Seznec.
You're "the top cop".
I need your discretion
and efficacy.
I know the prefect
Jean Chiappe personally.
He'll understand your efforts.
Mr. Prosecutor, André Simon
wants to investigate his son-in-law.
He's worried because his daughter
married him? Why?
He says Stavisky earns too much.
He's suspicious.
But he makes it for all of Paris.
Nobody's complaining.
- What do I say?
- Nothing.
I can hardly reign in
prosecutor Prince's doggedness.
Prince is stubborn.
He doesn't get it!
The Alexandre group's
dealings involve
private interests
and people in government.
The highest levels?
You mean my brother-in-law?
The President met Stavisky
only once or twice at the races.
He goes rarely.
What do I tell André Simon?
Just enough to get
a reward from the prefect.
Tell him you lack evidence.
Now, excuse me.
I have to chop a head.
Protect the elites,
as Pressard said.
Meanwhile, high-society
is making a mint.
And without tipping you.
That's what's bothering you,
sweetheart.
I sense you're not
all-in on this.
What did Stavisky do to you?
Him, nothing.
But if I get him,
I get them all.
They can't refuse.
I'll get my piece of the pie.
There may be a way.
- A rumor's circulating.
- What?
You know Crédit d'Orléans?
We dock the boat
and the crew is summoned.
- Why?
- Look.
Hi, papy!
I'll leave you them.
Hello, father-in-law.
You spend more time with your kids
than at work.
- They're more important.
- Your Russian heritage.
Why did you change
to Alexandre?
You didn't like your name?
Hard to make your name
when it isn't French.
Of course. I imagine.
Don't take it badly,
but people are asking questions.
You especially.
What's going on?
Worried about me?
Or for Arlette?
Not at all.
I only want 2 things:
happiness for my wife,
and to sail boats here, in the woods,
with my kids.
Bonny?
What are you doing here?
I had an appointment.
But this is good.
I heard about fake rocks
at Crédit d'Orléans.
The bank created by Stavisky?
Fake names, fake bankers,
fake emeralds.
A lot of reason to protect him.
They say he has friends.
Stavisky buys whoever's for sale.
But you, Bonny.
Where are your friends?
This isn't out of kindness.
We'll see when Stavisky falls.
If the right rises,
I can bleed the left.
If the left resists,
the right will eat from my hand.
In any case,
I'll end up police chief.
Happy hunting, Rital.
I checked.
Fake emeralds have been trafficked
since his bank was founded.
Forgery and usage.
Organized fraud.
No "get out of jail".
No one to hush it up.
This time 20 years.
I don't trust Bonny.
He's too cozy
with Attorney General Pressard.
I have doubts too.
It could be a trap.
Let's send a team to Orléans
to check the books.
We had an appointment?
At 3 pm. About the 200,000 francs
I want to deposit.
Darcourt, 200,000,
let's be serious.
The buy-in for my group
is 1 million. Guillaume?
1 million, Darcourt. A mere million,
then we can talk.
Excuse me. Business.
Remember me?
Maurin, at l'Empire.
Ah yes!
I imagine my 35,000 F savings
is of no interest.
But of course, Maurin.
It is.
This is hard-earned money.
Darcourt makes his money
while sleeping.
Since he's useless,
they made him minister.
I'll give you 10% on my bonds.
Thank you. Can I shake your hand?
For me, you're a model.
Stay yourself, Maurin.
It's better.
Call me?
Guillaume!
Miss Soleil!
Call my wife. Tell her
we're eating at Maxim's.
Very well.
- Miss.
- Yes, sir?
For you.
For the occasion.
Mr. Alexandre, you shouldn't have.
Yes I should!
You bring me good luck.
And yet I saw clouds
in your sign.
Dark clouds.
She has a gift.
We should open
Crédit Municipal in the south,
where there's no clouds.
Thanks.
You're wrong not to believe.
Thanks.
She may be right, Sacha.
You know where your jewelry is?
A 5-million franc loss.
And your public works
finance company?
- 12 million.
- There.
Not to mention your racing stables,
house in Claridge,
the Théâtre de l'Empire,
the Marly villa,
blackmail payment,
thank-yous
in cash, it's...
- It's bankruptcy?
No, but your lifestyle
isn't helping.
But it's not a lifestyle.
It's a facade, an ad.
Who invests with someone
unsuccessful? Nobody.
The Claridge, the theater,
the stables, it's all to attract.
Why refuse Darcourt?
Darcourt left angry?
Good.
He'll be back with 5 million.
And bursting with pride.
You know how I get them?
Pride.
Hello, sir. Housekeeping.
The month's take.
Nearly 3 million.
We owe 48 to the shareholders.
Lighten up a bit, Guillaume.
You're all sad. It's funny.
You can think and argue,
but don't know how to live.
The key to happiness
is making a woman smile.
Arlette is lucky.
Let's see.
I'm the lucky one.
Okay!
Mama!
- Claude?
- My loves!
Darling.
How are you? And my big guy?
Were they good?
We saw Guignol.
Why does he always win?
Because he's the nicest.
Unlike them.
Did you read this horror?
My husband lost at the casino
where I won the beauty contest.
They say he bought the jury.
True, not his style.
I know what you think of him,
but he wouldn't do that.
It's humiliating.
- I'll attack them.
- It's just blackmail.
How do I make it stop?
Nothing. They'd brag about it.
Otherwise
get Sacha to buy the paper.
One more.
Yeah. To be accused even more?
No, thanks.
Well, thanks, papa.
Honey.
Let's go!
- Bye, papy.
- Bye, kids.
Good evening, Albert.
- Good-bye.
- Bye.
Mr. Attorney General.
Georges, please.
Sorry you couldn't
get Stavisky
for this broker case.
For medical reasons, what's more.
I'm not beat yet.
Tell me more. Don't go without
explaining. Don't be cruel.
It's too soon. This cheat
has beat justice so many times,
I must stay prudent.
He must have support
up in the chancellery.
How else can you explain
that he's still free?
One wonders.
Corruption doesn't serve anyone.
And certainly not justice.
Surely. That's why,
if you have a lead,
you should tell me.
Once Stavisky falls,
I assure you, you'll
be the 1st to know.
Mr. Attorney General.
When is it?
Next Sunday, in Royan.
The forecast is good.
They'll say I bought the jury again.
How dare they say you couldn't
win a beauty contest.
It'll happen someday.
That day will come.
What is it?
Let me do it.
- Nervous?
- Huh? No.
Sacha.
Did your father say anything?
Papa?
About what?
He came to see me this afternoon.
He seemed preoccupied.
By what?
I don't know. For you.
We've never spoken so much -
6 minutes.
- Are you hiding something?
- From you? No.
Should I be worried?
I think you have reason
to be happy.
You're crazy.
- You love me too much.
- Never enough.
Another question?
No. I like you,
and I know the man I married.
Yeah? You're sure?
Completely sure.
Remember, we're awaited
at the Hungarian consulate.
You're going like that?
I don't know.
Depends on you.
See the Cossack with Arlette?
He wants her at his bachelor pad?
Let him try.
Arlette will give him what for.
- Sacha! Darling!
- See, there's chemistry
My husband.
Meet his majesty,
the consul general of Hungary.
Your Excellency.
Your wife is exquisite,
and so French.
Certainly. She's the national
treasure we don't export.
My respects.
Please.
You can be a boor sometimes.
What did he want,
with his wandering hand?
Indemnity for his countrymen
sold short
by redrawn borders.
Ah? Good for them.
200 million in obligations
guaranteed by Europe.
Jealous.
"200 million."
Too big for us.
Little gambler.
Mr. Stavisky?
Guillaume Faure is waiting
in the salon. It's urgent.
What is it?
The financial squad is in Orléans.
They're seizing the account records.
They'll see the emeralds are fake
and that 48 million are missing.
- And Desbrosses?
- You know him. He'd sell his soul.
I don't know how
to get you out of this.
I warned you.
Sacha.
Sacha, what do we do?
Open! It's the police!
Okay, okay!
- Open!
- Coming!
- Let's not panic.
- By order of prosecutor Prince,
you're under arrest
for organized fraud.
I also have to search.
Go ahead. You won't
find anything.
My books are at Place St-Georges.
A team is already there.
It's over, Stavisky.
Sacha?
Sacha, what's going on?
A flagrant judicial error.
Don't worry, darling.
Meet me at the courthouse in an hour.
It'll be an outing.
What does that mean?
What? I don't get it.
You accuse me of cheating,
and you're upset
that my books are in order?
What do you want,
Mr. Prosecutor?
As for the emeralds,
they were certified as authentic.
I'm the victim of fraud.
I'll be the one
pressing charges.
Is that all?
Ah yes! I forgot.
Before going,
my thanks.
Your investigation
confirmed the robust
health of Crédit d'Orléans.
A state-certified advertisement
that my paper La Volonté
will gladly repeat.
Gentlemen, goodbye.
Darling.
Now, tell me.
What did they want? Is it serious?
Yes, it's serious.
I took risks and I won.
That's how this country is.
They hate winners!
Swear you did nothing bad.
My dear, I'm free,
and thus innocent.
Have trust in our judicial system.
Who warned him?
Who's freezing
cases against him?
Who's filched the transcript?
It's like he's bought
the whole state.
What do you think
of the Attorney General?
He owes his brother-in-law,
head of the government.
He won't bite the hand
that feeds.
I know. I agree.
Your sincerity's touching, Baldi.
It could come back to bite you.
I know who I'm talking to.
I'm deeply republican.
How could he flush
48 million to a bank
that was failing 24 hours before?
Is it full?
I just read it.
It was sent anonymously.
It was accidentally stolen
from a bank safe.
Mine?
I know.
Selling me 48 million
is a good deal for you.
A pittance compared
to the secret inside.
Unfortunately I need this money,
but believe me I regret it,
after what I read.
The 7 biggest oil companies
made a deal.
Even in case of war,
Hitler will get oil?
Business is business, dear friend.
Beautiful bullshit, yes.
And I'm the one accused
of swindling?
Thank you.
This guy makes me sick.
He doesn't suspect a thing.
He's got the world in his hand.
What should he suspect?
We have to pay back the others,
or Prince will never give up.
You're not going to, too?
Did Guillaume send you
to teach me a lesson?
We're on a wire, Sacha.
If we run fast, we won't fall.
We're dining at Enghien,
with Arlette. She loves Enghien.
Well,
if she loves Enghien...
It's fine.
It happens.
I don't give a shit.
I know the wind will turn.
With you or another.
Kindly, you are.
Is Stavisky making you grouchy?
I had him, dammit.
He got away.
That's the problem
with these big fish.
You're not equipped.
Now it's my turn.
I have arguments that you don't.
You're charming.
14, red, even and manque.
- What do I do? Should I play?
- Play, play. Have fun.
Everything on 14.
Ladies and gentlemen,
place your bets.
You look intrigued.
The economy spins like roulette.
The bank always wins.
You want to open a casino?
No. It's the Hungarian obligations.
The 200 million fund?
Yes.
I bought it all at half price.
In 1 month I'll raise
it to 3 times its value.
Profit: 500 million.
You'll need a government green light.
Yes.
Chalamont will fix that.
He's Minister of the Colonies.
So? Colonies aren't
the government.
All bets are placed.
Betting closed.
I don't know you.
I know you. From the papers.
Journalist?
Occasionally.
Mademoiselle...
Kirov. Stella Kirov.
- Russian.
- We fled the revolution.
Looking for work?
If you're offering.
I collect
funds for a friend's campaign,
MP from Bayonne.
For campaign financing,
what beats the Crédit Municipal?
Would you like to meet
MP Garat?
I'm always glad to help
an MP
regain his seat.
Joseph.
Meet Serge Alexandre.
Serge Alexandre, MP Garat.
- Sir. A pleasure.
- Enchanté.
- If you have a few minutes.
- Gladly.
You can't win 'em all.
You got the job.
Congrats. Our underworld friends
are delighted.
Danger suits you, my dear.
Guillaume Faure and Chalamont
did well.
Stavisky got the Hungarian
bonds at half-price.
They'll consume his treasury
and speculate for a crash.
Then he'll have to sell.
- Or else he's ruined.
- What's stopping him?
He lack authorization from
Finance and the Foreign Office.
When Stavisky falls,
the system will crumble
and we'll hang MPs from
the streetlamps. Where to?
The galleries.
Stavisky sent me to a party
for an oil baron.
- You're sleeping with him?
- I'm afraid he's not faithful.
Really!
Guillaume!
For the Crédit de Bayonne,
I had an idea, watching my son
draw on tracing paper.
For every jewel deposited
we'll make 2 bonds:
one real,
a fake, for 1000 times its worth.
It's fake money.
Better. It's undetectable
by the Banque de France.
We'll print our own money.
We're the state!
What?
We've never gone so far.
Never.
That's what
Christopher Columbus said.
Except he discovered America,
not jail.
If he'd thought so,
he'd have been a gondolier.
Hi kids.
What a pretty boat.
You like chocolates?
- Of course!
- Here.
Stop that.
What's that? Stop.
- Chocolates? Want some.
- No, thanks.
Who are you?
Inspector Pierre Bonny.
National police.
What do you want?
Do you know what your husband does?
Business.
Madeleine, watch the kids.
Enormous fraud,
by fleecing investors.
Did you know that?
Yes. You've always known.
He's protected.
It won't last.
He'll be betrayed,
for the good of all.
Who'll betray him?
Someone close.
Traitors are always friends.
The public will know
he changed names
and did time.
Do you know?
I awaited his release to marry him.
You'll laugh less when he falls.
There'll be no pardon.
He's everything these people hate.
Why tell me that?
To save you and your kids.
Leave them out of this.
Think the press will respect
your family?
Stavisky will become
an infamous name.
You gave your beauty to a crook.
Enough.
Let go or I'll scream.
Let me go.
Tell me what you know
and I'll protect you.
What do you want?
That I betray him? Or that I sleep
with you to save him?
I didn't come for that.
All the better.
Think, before it's too late.
Still no chocolate?
Madame.
That's enough.
Come on.
Come dance.
Did you hire the brunette
you met here?
Stella Kirov.
Are you jealous?
I'm worried about you.
Don't worry, I'm drinking to my
father's memory. She's nothing.
Without you, I don't exist.
The bets are placed.
Betting's closed.
6.
7, red, odd and manque.
6, black,
lost and dead.
Sacha, you'll catch cold.
He's dead because of me.
Stop saying that, Sacha.
- Many died from the flu.
- It wasn't flu.
My father killed himself.
He put a bullet in his own head.
He wanted to be French.
To forget our origins.
He went to mass
every Sunday.
When they locked him up,
he lost everything.
He was a dentist in Neuilly.
And...
For others, he was just father
of the cheat.
A foreigner, too.
No surprise he's Jewish,
with a son like that.
I killed him.
It's my fault.
Swear that I'll never learn something
that'll stop me loving you.
No. I'm too afraid of losing you.
I'll never disappoint you.
I swear.
Three months later
I followed all the market
advice in La Volonté,
the Alexandre group newspaper.
I'd won with
Crédit d'Orléans.
I invested in Bayonne bonds.
2,500 F. A life's work.
What's the problem?
I wanted to sell my bonds,
but can't.
According to them, my bonds
were already sold 250,000 F.
How? Do multiple bonds
have the same number?
It would seem.
- It may be an error.
- On all my bonds?
Excuse me?
It's Lefebvre.
Can you come here?
Your bonds do come
from Crédit Municipal
de Bayonne?
- Stavisky's bank?
Who's Stavisky?
No one yet.
We'll do everything
to recover your money.
It's my life's work.
I understand.
Let's get a testimony.
Pardon.
Find the list
of Bayonne depositors.
There'll be other victims.
Keep it quiet.
Right ahead.
Ministry of Labor
and Social Affairs
So Serge Alexandre
is Serge Stavisky.
And then? Hardly a secret.
Alias Jean Sacha,
Doisy de Monty, Victor Martel,
Emmanuel de La Vigerie,
and his police record.
Far fewer people know that,
Mr. Minister.
When they realize who
your government's in bed with,
I wouldn't give much for your hide.
- What does the Attorney General say?
- Nothing.
His Biarritz villa
bought his silence.
The same for
Chalamont and Valencourt,
and other ministers
fed from Stavisky's palm.
If they realize
you let him speculate
on Hungarian obligations,
the government melts, you with it.
Do you want L'Action Française
to say how
you got your Vendée friends
discount Legions of Honor?
Or bought off the oil companies,
thanks to secret information?
- Is this blackmail?
- Yes.
You work for Stavisky's paper?
You're what?
The future,
Mr. Minister.
And the future
is national revolution.
Fascist elite.
I hope you know what you're doing.
We're disinfecting, Mr. Minster.
We're disinfecting.
The bonds are bouncing
and banks aren't paying.
Double-numbering problems
cropping up in Paris, Lyon,
Angoulême, Le Havre, Marseille,
and Rennes. We've the lost confidence
of the banks and the market.
- That comes back.
- With what money?
Something else: apparently
Bonny's in Bayonne.
- Bonny knows nothing.
- Yes, he might find it.
Well, in that case, let's sell
the Hungarian obligations.
In 1 month they've tripled.
500 million.
That explains it!
I thought of that.
Just 1 problem:
the government is against it.
What does Chalamont say?
Chalamont...
He's doing what he can.
He can't stop rumors.
They're saying
you're not very French.
How's that?
I have an ID card,
a military record,
I pay my taxes like everyone else!
You have to have a private mansion
in Saint Cloud for 5 generations?
I'll call Chalamont
and remind him
of his promises. He said
it would be a formality.
How much is formality?
The winds have changed, Sacha.
They owe me their jobs.
Sometimes their careers.
Often their mistresses.
And suddenly they have
delicate moral sensibilities?
They forget that if I made them,
I can also undo them.
I can undo them!
Not everyone's for sale.
- No kidding!
- He's not a politician.
What then?
There's a plot against you.
What?
In your champagne glass, you forgot
that people can betray you.
Taxi!
Ministers and the Foreign Office
oppose the resale of the bonds.
The Bayonne money can't clear
the debt. It's ruin.
That bitch really got you.
We're trapped.
What now?
Sacha?
They've got their guy.
A foreigner.
They'll have a blast,
dragging my name through the mud.
Everything my father feared,
and I,
I gave them the weapon
they'll slaughter me with.
No.
Don't say that, Sacha.
Thanks to you,
many live like princes.
Others will be against me.
Vengeful, envious people.
They'll need a leader,
a fall guy,
a scapegoat.
A Jew, as they say.
Weeks of tailing.
I'm getting lost.
I need Intelligence to look,
to know who it is.
I don't know them all.
Some don't have files with us.
And for the others,
it's the making of the far right.
I've seen him.
Eugène Deloncle.
Polytechnician,
maritime engineer.
Him,
Dr. Henri Martin.
Jean Filliol,
called The Killer,
surrounded by a bevy
of Action Française activists.
Nationalist from Croix-de-Feu.
King's Camelots monarchist league.
Thugs.
Ex-convicts. Bourgeois.
Upper crust.
And this one?
Arsène Schueller,
cosmetics manufacturer,
big fortune,
anti-Semite.
A bastard with pretty hands.
What are you working on, Lino?
A fascist plot?
48 hours in Bayonne
was enough for me.
It's the fraud of the century.
Bigger than the Panama Canal
or Marthe Hanau.
The climate is awful.
It envelops the state.
Can we stop the fire?
Possible. If the far right
doesn't try to burn everything.
They have proof.
They'll make it public
and push for a coup d'état.
Given the gravity of the situation,
I need exceptional means
and a promotion
to the highest level.
The far right is well informed
because you're linked
to a woman from their camp.
It's not all friends in the police.
What's your game, Bonny ?
I'm sleeping with her to defend
your and your friends' interests.
You told her to work
for Stavisky's paper?
No. But they're infiltrating
everywhere. Why not there?
I suspected you were
allied with the fascists.
Am I not here to give you
my report?
- Of course.
But before giving you
what you want,
you have to prove your loyalty.
I serve France,
Mr. Attorney General.
We'll see about that.
You tell me everything you know
about Crédit de Bayonne.
All, Bonny. Don't hide anything.
You'll know all I know,
and tell me everything I don't.
It's me, Chalamont.
What's going on?
Our friends are scared.
Talk to your friends
and tell them I'll reveal
all the money they got
if they don't help me.
The list of names and sums.
That'd do nothing.
I don't care what you think!
It's an order!
You've gotten fat off the backs
of taxpayers for years.
I'm up against the wall.
Know that I'll be pitiless.
I know, but I can't do anything.
It's dangerous to call.
We're watched.
Our phones are tapped.
Are you pleased?
Rather, yes.
Enough to send your rotten
Republic to hell.
"It's the dawn of fascism",
says Brasillach.
Who are you waiting for?
He who gives orders, or takes them?
Answer me.
You used me to get ahead.
You're political parasites,
rats that take power
by spreading disease.
Now it's you going to hell.
We're taking power.
Rome, Berlin, soon Paris,
thanks to you!
Idiot! You fled Bolshevism
and dream of a regime that uses
the same methods.
Stalin's pogroms
and Hitler have the same
stench of death!
Inspector Bonny.
It doesn't surprise me.
Looks like there's a bone
in the manure.
You'll feel unwelcome here.
In 48 hours it's all over.
Everyone in your schemes.
Those crawling to the hangman,
what do they gain?
Beat it, Stavisky,
or I'll shoot you.
He's done.
We have names, details, everything.
The proof against the papers
he bought,
the MPs, judges,
even the police.
You see, I can
restore order to the prefecture,
even while marching
the goose step.
What's Bonny playing at?
I can't tell if he's in control
or using this.
He's stirred things up.
Double numbering. He hid that.
- How much?
- Hundreds of millions.
Stavisky sold 50,000 F bonds
to 30 banks.
All false.
A stroke of genius.
Hope Pressard doesn't overtake us
and silence the scandal.
Nor the far right.
- And my report?
- I'm not sleeping. Go to Bayonne.
I want proof of fraud.
Ditto for the Alexandre group.
We have to outpace them all.
Give up, you're caught!
Against the rules, papa.
You're dead already!
Papa never dies!
Pillow fight!
Pillow fight! Defend yourself!
What are you doing all alone?
Incredible Bayonne Scandal
I have to talk to mama, kids.
Is it true what they say?
Your business, the bank,
the Bayonne bonds, it's all just
a house of cards?
Tell me it's not true, Sacha.
Say you'll defend yourself,
and attack them.
You didn't cheat so.
They didn't say it all.
Because they don't know it all.
You swore you'd not hide anything!
To not lie!
Do you realize?
Do you get it?
Did you really believe
I was a financial genius?
Be honest.
Don't talk about honesty.
You don't know the word.
I want you to look at me.
Look at me.
I was nothing when we met.
I wanted to make you proud.
And all these depositors?
All these people you're
throwing into the street?
You think I don't think about it?
Your dad, after a market crash
that ruined 1,000 people,
did he go put flowers
on Karl Marx's grave?
That's how he lives!
How they all live!
I spent half of my fortune
helping people!
Buying patents! A theater!
Funding businesses!
I'm a good guy!
And us?
Did you think of us?
Your family? Your kids?
I fought just for you.
Ah no. Not true. No.
You fought for your,
for your personal war.
You wanted power
to bow to you.
They won't forgive you.
They won't forgive me
because I'm not from their world.
And did you marry me
as a trophy?
I married you because I love you.
You're the only princess
I know.
There's not been one day,
not one minute,
that I didn't fear
what's happening now.
So...
So I showered you in gifts
so that you wouldn't see,
wouldn't know.
The only thing that matters, now,
is knowing you love me enough
to stay by my side.
Bayonne
What They're Hiding
But I thought there was no
evidence against him.
The situation has changed.
As you noticed.
The worst is to come, an earthquake
that will rock you
and your stock market friends.
- You'll be the 1st victim.
- Why me?
Because your daughter
married the devil.
Who'll believe you know nothing?
- Ridiculous!
- The government won't resist.
Getting rich and pretending
to help the people! Revolting!
He also bought the right,
paving the way for extremists.
I've always respected the Republic.
To your credit.
To save the state,
certain documents must not appear.
It's the only way to control this
and to save you,
and your daughter.
I'm grateful, inspector.
I always knew my son-in-law
was a traitor.
Le Figaro called.
The Canard Enchaîné
want a meeting.
- No press.
I've already told you.
They make lies out of truth.
What do I tell the Commission
about the market?
That I'm away,
or in a sanatorium. Improvise.
Mr. Faure and Mr. Charles
are waiting
with Mr. Biegelman,
the bank commissioner.
- What do your stars say?
- But you don't believe in that.
I forgot. Mr. Maurin
has been waiting since 7 am.
Ah, OK.
Who is "Mr. Maurin"?
Maurin.
You see, there's nothing to gain
by being me.
You destroyed me, sir!
If I were a cynic,
I'd say don't gamble.
- How much have you lost?
- 35,000 F. For you,
this is the price of
casino.
The casino and the market
are the only slaughterhouses
where sheep are happy
to be shorn. Don't go.
Here. 50,000. Merry Christmas.
Why are you doing this?
So I can say I saved at least one.
Or to save myself, who knows?
Don't gamble again, Maurin.
Never again.
Never again!
Prince has declared war.
Investigatory commission in Bayonne
and the whole group.
We caught a break
with Christmas holiday,
but we need to disappear now.
Look!
France, sullied!
Germaine Soleil's boyfriend
has a chalet in Chamonix.
Nothing fancy but it's discrete.
Then Switzerland.
- We're folding?
- They're giving up on you.
What do you want?
To prove their complicity.
No. It's too dangerous.
They'll hide.
You saw the press?
Left and right,
you upset them all.
Your friends have dropped you.
They'll say we should mistrust
aliens and outsiders.
Find shelter quickly.
A train derailed in Lagny.
They say
over 100 dead.
The paper's asking
if we'll mention it
in tomorrow's issue.
Dear,
my very dear mademoiselle Soleil,
is my life in danger,
according to your stars?
I never said that, Sir.
Well, you're wrong.
For I'm dead already.
I'm dead already.
When do you leave?
I don't know yet.
Meanwhile, my love,
there is news for you.
Big news.
Good for some,
bad for others.
Don't believe it.
I have to hide where no one
will think.
Think what?
I'll prepare my defense.
I don't get it.
What's wrong?
Everything's lost.
What? A miracle?
Yes. No.
The miracle is for later.
Don't worry, my love.
All's good.
Tell me, Sacha!
Tell me!
Prosecutor Prince
went back on his word.
He set the dogs on Stavisky
without warning me.
He's wanted his hide.
He's a man out of another period,
another time.
He claims to be incorruptible.
He's playing Robespierre!
If you know how he ended up...
I got orders
to do everything, Bonny,
to keep Stavisky from revealing
the extend of corruption.
- Can I count on you?
- If the Republic is not ingrate.
Are you selling your support?
I'm protecting my future.
I know what you want.
You'll get it.
Yes?
- Mr. prosecutor.
- What's wrong?
A wire says that
Stavisky is dead.
- Good God.
- He was in the train to Lagny.
Was the body identified?
No. It's carnage.
The train got fire.
They found his passport
on a half-burnt body.
Evidently.
Thanks, Lantier.
Seems like luck is on our side.
Stavisky dead,
no more suspects,
no more proof,
no more scandal.
Amazing.
Wonderful.
"Serge Alexandre is dead.
"Founder of ambitious business
ventures,
"he parted in a railway tragedy."
Not bad, eh?
- This is horrible, Sir.
- Germaine,
stop crying.
I'm not dead yet.
Yes, but still, Sir.
You shouldn't joke of such things.
Choose a photo of me
for the papers.
Are you happy?
Meanwhile, write.
"Who was Serge Alexandre?
"Some people say that his
real name was Stavisky,
"for in France,
success requires Frenchness,
"rather than honesty.
"Yes, Serge Alexandre Stavisky
was foreign-born.
"Like Marie Curie.
"They also say
"that he bought favors
and paid off politicians.
"That's right again.
"The list of MP's,
ministers, police, judges
"and others who have benefited
from his favors
"will be published in the next
issue of La Volonté,
"which you should buy.
The tearful editors."
What tripe!
What about Lagny?
The police is investigating.
Bonny is also on the trail.
Pressard must be relieved.
Just Stavisky's papers left.
- He must have left proof.
- Search his house.
Bonny can't clean up.
He's capable of anything.
France in Mourning
Meet in the snow?
Yes, we'll make snowmen.
And skiing!
- Snowmen, skiing...
- Sledding!
We'll have a big blaze
in the fireplace, eh?
But Father Christmas
will burn his butt.
No, my love.
Father Christmas is very clever.
Give me a little hug?
A hug?
Go on.
Go play.
My love,
I won't leave the hotel.
I leave tonight.
It'll be fine. We'll make it.
- I love you.
- Me too.
Sacha!
Thanks.
You believe it?
Go find out. This nutcase
is capable of anything.
Dying or faking it.
It's time to act,
lower the masks.
All Rotten
What's this mean?
Come on, Chalamont.
You know better than I.
The construction permit
for your brother in Villefranche,
your sister's plantation in Dakar,
your son consul in Milan,
envelopes from Stavisky
to sell off
Hungarian obligations:
A million in cash.
It'll appear tomorrow.
Consequences are up to you,
if you still have any honor.
Don't come with me.
I'll find the path.
Mr. Valencourt,
in the name of France,
you're under arrest.
Prince.
Chalamont killed himself.
He just called you.
What did he have to say?
He wanted your help.
Why me?
Maybe he knew you blocked 80
lawsuits and got 32 dismissals
for Stavisky, to protect
your friends in government?
- Slander.
- We'll see.
If it's not the inquiry,
it'll be Stavisky.
Stavisky is dead!
He toyed with us.
Baldi is looking.
If anything happens to him,,
you and Bonny are responsible.
What's your interest in this,
dear Albert ?
Justice, my dear.
Just justice.
Beyond postures?
The corrupt,
the pocketed,
the vassals, the servile.
You'll bring them all down.
I didn't know you're a communist.
Man of law is enough.
You'll have to hurry up.
I was just named head
of the appeals court.
Out of reach of your sarcasm.
You're naive, Albert.
The naive get swept aside.
You can deal.
I must see you.
You don't want me t come?
I'll attract less attention alone.
I was thinking about that.
It's the heart of
3rd Republic morals.
Indeed. Chalamont is dead,
Renaldi resigned.
It's just starting.
Even the chief of police
was named to the Comédie-Française.
He'll learn to play Guignol.
There are protest everywhere.
They chant, "rotten".
Who put these rotten people
in power?
Butt out!
We took away your right to vote.
If voting changed the world,
it'd have been banned long ago.
Many people want your life insurance.
Be careful.
- Officially, I'm dead.
- It won't hold long.
It has to hold to Switzerland.
Find where he's hidden
before it gets worse.
- And when I know?
- He must not speak.
I got orders.
State policy.
His father killed himself, right?
Depression.
Isn't depression hereditary?
Where is he?
Arlette, for the love of God,
respond.
They almost think
I'm an accomplice.
Chalamont, Valencourt, Lieuwen,
all dead!
Except those who were guilty.
I never
wanted the marriage to...
- This Jew?
- OK, that's enough.
I can still salvage the situation.
- Why would you?
- Not for him, I assure you.
For you and the kids.
I can stop prosecutor
Prince's persecution.
What's your husband's plan?
What is he going to do?
Fight, show the evidence he has
against those he bought,
who want to bury him.
He has the evidence with him?
- Yes.
- Very well.
Now, you have to tell me
where he's hiding.
With this evidence,
the worst will go.
And Sacha won't have to fear
for his life, because we're here.
So where is he?
Arlette,
too many have already died.
Is he armed?
I don't know.
Tell me and he's safe.
I have a friend in the police.
Where is Sacha?
In Chamonix.
We'll figure it out.
It was cleaned up in time,
Mr. deputy.
Where's the proof
of corruption?
Stavisky's books, secret accounts,
checkbooks?
I don't know.
You're lying. You swept
the shit under the rug,
buying your colleagues
in the assembly.
Contempt and vulgarity
won't get you anywhere.
You'll land in prison. You know
what they do to lawyers there?
They make them lick asses
with their tongues.
It'll be easy.
You're already gifted.
I have no response for your insults.
- I'm listening.
- Inspector Bonny, please.
It's for you.
Director Bonny.
He's in Chamonix,
Chalet du Vieux Logis.
All the evidence is with him.
Ah, inspector...
...he's armed.
Fortunately some still trust
in the police.
The judge will have you
for organized fraud.
I always thought you couldn't be
both a lawyer and MP.
It's like a pickpocket
running the Banque de France.
I love you, Sacha.
Me too. I love you.
I miss you.
Stavisky Commits Suicide
with Revolver
At Point-Blank
Thanks.
Daladier fired the police chief.
Marches are announced
with the Croix-de-Feu
and fascist leagues.
The army will encircle the capital.
No, the army won't move.
Pétain wants revolution,
ready to plunge us into chaos.
We'll escort him to you.
I'll inform you
when your husband is repatriated.
Sign here.
My husband died in the hospital
4 hours after the shot.
Really?
Don't believe everything you hear.
We're flirting with a coup.
People want a clean France.
Soon they'll want it pure,
with no foreigners.
That's our direction.
Do you know who betrayed your
husband's address in Chamonix ?
Guillaume Faure?
Charles Serva?
Aside from you,
who knew where he was?
It was to protect you,
so they'd spare you.
I was worried sick.
Arlette...
Arlette, my dear... Arlette!
The chief was fired
to please the unions.
Chiappe embarrassed us.
We must save the Republic.
What Republic?
You were in Chamonix
for what Republic?
What'd they promise France's top cop
to shut up Stavisky ?
What's your proof, Rital?
Who sent you there?
Where's the evidence
that disappeared?
Who'd you do the cleanup for?
Say I killed Stavisky again.
Stavisky committing suicide is harder
than sending Seznec to jail.
Even that crook Stavisky
will always be cleaner than you.
The chief refuses to resign
and is calling for our support.
Daladier steps down.
Power is for the taking.
Straight to civil war.
No more state.
But there's still police.
And I'll be there, Bonny.
We interrupt this program
to bring you breaking news.
Prosecutor Albert Prince,
head of the Stavisky
investigation,
was found dead this morning
at 5:45 am,
crushed by
the Paris-Orléans train
at Combe-aux-Fées.
The bag containing
his files has disappeared,
along with precious documents
held in his office in Paris.
Suicide, according to Director Bonny,
or according to Baldi,
a crime linked to shadowy
Stavisky affair?
We'll know more
at the next news break.
Thank you, Stella.
You did a great job.
Will you join the parade tomorrow?
February 6 will go down in history.
We have never governed,
but we are the only option
to save France.
Thus I step from the shadows.
Hardly 1 month
after the death of Stavisky,
an angry mob driven by
the far right
gathered on February 6, 1934,
at Place de la Concorde,
against mobile police units
who received order to open fire.
This morning, we counted 16 dead
and hundreds wounded.
It's civil war.
Five years after
avoiding fascism,
the French government made
the odious choice to collaborate.
Pierre Bonny was recruited
by German secret service
to train,
with ex-gangster Henri Lafont,
the bloodthirstiest
couple of the French Gestapo.
He finally managed
to become someone.
Upon liberation,
just before being shot,
Bonny admitted to having
assassinated Albert Prince
to save the Republic.
As for Sacha,
though everyone knew
his death wasn't a suicide,
no one knows who ordered
him silenced
in the name of the state.
Subtitles: Eclair Media
Crooks! Crooks!
Refund the Bayonne bonds!
Refund our Bayonne bonds!
Refund the Bayonne bonds!
Open the door.
Your savings bonds are fakes.
Listen!
All the banks,
all, have fallen victim
to this cheat, Stavisky.
We don't know a Stavisky.
Refund us.
Listen!
Not possible.
We're talking millions.
No! It's not impossible!
Pay us or it'll burn.
We'll set fire!
There's no cash.
We don't have money!
We'll burn it down!
Stavisky, Swindler of the Century
Calm down, Arlette,
calm down. What matters are you
and the kids. They're OK?
Yes, they're OK.
Did they get their gifts?
Yes, Sacha. Yes.
Sacha, it's not only about you.
Thousands have been ruined.
I know, darling.
You know nothing!
I get threats on the phone!
"Are you Stavisky,
the crook's wife?"
That's what they say!
It can't go on.
I can name
all those who profited
from the 700 million.
I have proof.
I talked to dad.
What did you say?
He can help you.
I beg you, stop.
Please.
Don't tell you dad.
OK?
Tomorrow I'm headed
to Geneva.
Meet me with the kids.
Sacha, what's going on?
Wait a second.
Sacha!
It's nothing.
It's fine, my love.
Everything's OK.
I have them.
I could topple the state.
Sacha...
I love you, Sacha.
I love you too.
I miss you.
Police!
Stavisky! Open up!
Open up!
Drop your gun!
Open the door!
Stavisky!
Bonny!
Get 2 doctors to confirm
Stavisky's suicide
and file the certificate.
- But...
he's alive.
- And alert the police.
Don't let anyone near.
I'll call Paris.
And remember,
I was never here.
Is it Sacha?
No. No.
No, papa.
No.
He had a gun. He killed himself
when the police came.
No.
It can't be!
It can't be.
He was to meet me and the kids.
It's the truth.
How can you be sure?
No.
You start?
I'll start.
Don't tell them.
Where are you going?
To the police. They must know.
It's dangerous. There's
riots everywhere.
But it's my husband!
I want to know what happened.
I will find out.
Orsay 22-30, please.
Yes?
We have a problem.
Deputies at the legislature
came to blows
over the government's questions
about the suicide
of swindler Serge Stavisky,
better known
as Serge Alexandre.
The corruption of
Stavisky's systemic fraud
allegedly riddled the state.
The far right is...
Oh, stop!
I didn't start it!
I didn't set fire
to the fucking bank!
- I have a complaint.
- I didn't throw
the Molotov cocktail!
I have a complaint.
I'm Arlette Stavisky,
wife of Serge Alexandre Stavisky.
- From the radio ?
Down with the bourgeoisie!
You, shut it!
Stavisky is dead.
What do you want?
What more do you want?
Mrs. Stavisky,
inspector Baldi, financial squad.
Come with me, ma'am.
Come.
Are you trying to get lynched?
We've had 1,000 arrests
since your husband fled.
- We killed him.
- Pardon?
We killed him!
It's a police matter,
national security, Mrs. Stavisky!
Or should I say Mrs. Alexandre?
Stavisky. My husband went by
Alexandre for business.
I'll file a complaint.
Accusing the police
means accusing the State!
But they killed my husband.
It wasn't suicide.
One Year Earlier
January 30, 1933
Like it?
You're divine.
Ms. Chanel told me,
"Marry that young woman.
"She's gold."
She was wrong.
You're a dream.
Micheline, I said, "to bed!"
How appropriate!
My princess!
Papa, my story! You promised.
I'm sorry. I can't contain
her when you go out.
And my story?
I already told you 2.
She does as she likes with you.
Like her mother.
Do you know the story
of Nils Holgersson?
Nils Holgersson
was a young man
who crossed the land of elves
upon a wild goose.
Sacha, there's 52 chapters.
Un chapter.
Just one chapter. One chapter.
You're handsome.
You're magnificent.
- Thanks.
- It was worth the wait.
- Sacha...
- It's cold for everyone.
Yes.
Ah, inspector!
Enter.
You're working late,
Mr. prosecutor.
Stavisky, Baldi.
Still Serge Stavisky,
a.k.a Serge Alexandre.
Fraud, forgery,
laundering, theft,
and embezzlement.
Everything he does is fake.
32 lawsuits, 27 dismissals.
Just one conviction,
and pardoned for
medical reasons.
The cases stack up,
but just evaporate
here at the courthouse.
I got the broker who says
he embezzled 5 million,
but that's not enough.
I want his head, Baldi.
I understand.
But I'm just a financial
inspector.
Yes.
Honest and hardworking,
and patriotic.
That's rare, real patriotism.
Especially these days.
It's a corruption crisis.
Half of the MPs
pocket money on the side.
- The others?
They're waiting their turn.
If we don't act,
others will in this chaos.
The far right.
Stock market crash,
unemployment, poverty,
recession...
How do you think Hitler
grabbed power in Berlin?
We're next.
I'm not sure Stavisky even realizes.
He's drunk on
success and beating the system.
He's not alone.
But he's the most talented,
and others protect him.
I need help, inspector.
I trust you.
If you accept to work for me,
prosecutor Albert Prince,
financial magistrate.
Yes.
Sacha.
Alice.
- Delighted to see you.
- Alice, Charles.
- Charles, Alice.
- Enchanté.
Papa! I'm glad.
It's great you could come.
- Sacha will love it.
- It's more for you
than for the 1,000th edition
of his rage.
Please...
Be nice, at least tonight.
He deserves it.
Good evening.
Dear Chalamont,
how are our colonies?
Good. Our natives are
France's pride and wealth.
- And are we theirs?
- We're teaching.
- Not so bad.
- Watch out, Valencourt.
Eventually they'll want
to run the Council of State.
Strange character.
He knows everyone,
everyone likes him,
but where does this
Serge Alexandre come from?
Three years ago I wouldn't
have put a penny on him,
and now he has an empire.
All the better for us.
Stella Kirov. Thank you.
What opulence
for a small paper!
It's a financial paper.
An insult for those who have.
The results
from Crédit Municipal in Orléans
prove you right, but how
have you made so much
with a pawnshop?
The recession's forcing people
to pawn their stuff.
I lend at a good rate.
André, what a joy!
Sacha, this party,
in your amazing theater,
it's magnificent.
My dear father-in-law
just said the same.
Have fun.
Lieuwen, don't tell me
your bank
also invested in this.
Why not?
Thanks to the left, pawnshops
are traded on the market,
and as long as I win, I'll play.
Ah, Mr. Alexandre!
I want to thank you for my daughter.
Switzerland has the best
private clinics.
And discretion.
It's a weight off our backs.
- I owe you.
- No, no.
I'll always help a friend.
Papa!
Come dance!
Come on.
There.
I knew the top
Chanel model.
Everything can be bought.
Except love.
But I can't teach you,
who married a transport
company, and you...
A tire factory?
My respects.
Bravo.
Sacha? Desbrosses is waiting.
Guillaume will join.
Let me go!
I want Alexandre!
- Let go!
- Wait, let him go.
I'm Serge Alexandre.
Maurin. I want
to invest with you,
but can't get a meeting.
I came.
You did well.
Is this how we treat
an investor?
Come to my office Tuesday,
Place Saint-Georges.
Meanwhile, enjoy yourself.
- At your service.
- Come.
So, Desbrosses?
How is our
Crédit d'Orléans ?
Bad, since M. Serva deposited
glass emeralds
billed as real ones.
How's that?
A system I invented.
- Are they real?
- These, yes.
Borrowed from Chaumet,
Place Vendôme,
long enough to authenticate
and make copies. Then,
I return the real to Chaumet
and use the fakes as
security at Crédit d'Orléans.
In return, my friend
here gives me
18 million in savings bonds
that I cash
at the Banque de France.
Brilliant, no?
But on paper, Crédit
is rich, though the coffers
are empty and the jewels are fakes.
Calm down. It'll be OK.
How do I pay dividends?
They'll figure it out!
Have I ever broken a promise?
Even once?
Calm down.
Have fun, have a drink.
Does your wife know
you're in Paris?
- No.
No? Then relax.
- Charles...
- You know Amandine, Gaëtan?
Lovely star of the Théâtre
de l'Empire. Let's call her.
She's adorable,
very persuasive.
You're playing with fire.
The banks trust us.
We'll open
another Crédit Municipal,
get loans,
bail out Orléans,
in the south, the sun.
- When will it stop?
Why should it stop?
Is life not good?
Everyone's after you:
le Prince, Inspector Bonny.
They're ready to bring you down.
Calm down. I'm untouchable.
You were less cautious
when I financed your campaign.
Amandine's coming.
Desbrosses is in good hands.
Let's hope he's loyal.
Sacha is totally unconscious.
And remember:
we're dancing on a minefield.
- What counts is dancing.
Why's he always in a huff?
Your criminal summons
awoke his ulcer.
- This again!
Conning a broker isn't a crime.
I could've fixed if Chalamont
had greased the right guy.
You need money to grease.
I'm the money.
Guillaume is the law.
He's an MP and my lawyer.
If he can't help me,
what's he for?
- So, Stella, this Stavisky?
- A swindler,
who amuses the bourgeois
by picking their pockets.
- With skill, too.
- They're not amused for long.
I have information
on his Crédit d'Orléans account.
Big-time trafficking
in fake emeralds.
Still in touch
with Inspector Bonny?
He'll pass the information
to the prosecutor, Prince.
The government is too compromised
to have Stavisky arrested.
They want to erase the evidence.
We'll stop them.
We'll publish just how
rotten the regime is,
with evidence. Stavisky
will bring them down with him.
Think about it!
A guilty Jew. A windfall,
after the Dreyfus affair.
When he falls,
people will take to the streets
and democracy
won't come back.
We'll take power as easy
as picking ripe fruit.
Pierre Bonny?
Inspector Bonny.
- Police.
- André Simon.
It was their wedding day.
Philippe Lieuwen mentioned
your concern for your son in law.
I know too little of Sacha:
his past, his relations,
his business, his fortune.
Suspicions?
I'm looking out for my daughter.
I know who you are:
you arrested Seznec.
You're "the top cop".
I need your discretion
and efficacy.
I know the prefect
Jean Chiappe personally.
He'll understand your efforts.
Mr. Prosecutor, André Simon
wants to investigate his son-in-law.
He's worried because his daughter
married him? Why?
He says Stavisky earns too much.
He's suspicious.
But he makes it for all of Paris.
Nobody's complaining.
- What do I say?
- Nothing.
I can hardly reign in
prosecutor Prince's doggedness.
Prince is stubborn.
He doesn't get it!
The Alexandre group's
dealings involve
private interests
and people in government.
The highest levels?
You mean my brother-in-law?
The President met Stavisky
only once or twice at the races.
He goes rarely.
What do I tell André Simon?
Just enough to get
a reward from the prefect.
Tell him you lack evidence.
Now, excuse me.
I have to chop a head.
Protect the elites,
as Pressard said.
Meanwhile, high-society
is making a mint.
And without tipping you.
That's what's bothering you,
sweetheart.
I sense you're not
all-in on this.
What did Stavisky do to you?
Him, nothing.
But if I get him,
I get them all.
They can't refuse.
I'll get my piece of the pie.
There may be a way.
- A rumor's circulating.
- What?
You know Crédit d'Orléans?
We dock the boat
and the crew is summoned.
- Why?
- Look.
Hi, papy!
I'll leave you them.
Hello, father-in-law.
You spend more time with your kids
than at work.
- They're more important.
- Your Russian heritage.
Why did you change
to Alexandre?
You didn't like your name?
Hard to make your name
when it isn't French.
Of course. I imagine.
Don't take it badly,
but people are asking questions.
You especially.
What's going on?
Worried about me?
Or for Arlette?
Not at all.
I only want 2 things:
happiness for my wife,
and to sail boats here, in the woods,
with my kids.
Bonny?
What are you doing here?
I had an appointment.
But this is good.
I heard about fake rocks
at Crédit d'Orléans.
The bank created by Stavisky?
Fake names, fake bankers,
fake emeralds.
A lot of reason to protect him.
They say he has friends.
Stavisky buys whoever's for sale.
But you, Bonny.
Where are your friends?
This isn't out of kindness.
We'll see when Stavisky falls.
If the right rises,
I can bleed the left.
If the left resists,
the right will eat from my hand.
In any case,
I'll end up police chief.
Happy hunting, Rital.
I checked.
Fake emeralds have been trafficked
since his bank was founded.
Forgery and usage.
Organized fraud.
No "get out of jail".
No one to hush it up.
This time 20 years.
I don't trust Bonny.
He's too cozy
with Attorney General Pressard.
I have doubts too.
It could be a trap.
Let's send a team to Orléans
to check the books.
We had an appointment?
At 3 pm. About the 200,000 francs
I want to deposit.
Darcourt, 200,000,
let's be serious.
The buy-in for my group
is 1 million. Guillaume?
1 million, Darcourt. A mere million,
then we can talk.
Excuse me. Business.
Remember me?
Maurin, at l'Empire.
Ah yes!
I imagine my 35,000 F savings
is of no interest.
But of course, Maurin.
It is.
This is hard-earned money.
Darcourt makes his money
while sleeping.
Since he's useless,
they made him minister.
I'll give you 10% on my bonds.
Thank you. Can I shake your hand?
For me, you're a model.
Stay yourself, Maurin.
It's better.
Call me?
Guillaume!
Miss Soleil!
Call my wife. Tell her
we're eating at Maxim's.
Very well.
- Miss.
- Yes, sir?
For you.
For the occasion.
Mr. Alexandre, you shouldn't have.
Yes I should!
You bring me good luck.
And yet I saw clouds
in your sign.
Dark clouds.
She has a gift.
We should open
Crédit Municipal in the south,
where there's no clouds.
Thanks.
You're wrong not to believe.
Thanks.
She may be right, Sacha.
You know where your jewelry is?
A 5-million franc loss.
And your public works
finance company?
- 12 million.
- There.
Not to mention your racing stables,
house in Claridge,
the Théâtre de l'Empire,
the Marly villa,
blackmail payment,
thank-yous
in cash, it's...
- It's bankruptcy?
No, but your lifestyle
isn't helping.
But it's not a lifestyle.
It's a facade, an ad.
Who invests with someone
unsuccessful? Nobody.
The Claridge, the theater,
the stables, it's all to attract.
Why refuse Darcourt?
Darcourt left angry?
Good.
He'll be back with 5 million.
And bursting with pride.
You know how I get them?
Pride.
Hello, sir. Housekeeping.
The month's take.
Nearly 3 million.
We owe 48 to the shareholders.
Lighten up a bit, Guillaume.
You're all sad. It's funny.
You can think and argue,
but don't know how to live.
The key to happiness
is making a woman smile.
Arlette is lucky.
Let's see.
I'm the lucky one.
Okay!
Mama!
- Claude?
- My loves!
Darling.
How are you? And my big guy?
Were they good?
We saw Guignol.
Why does he always win?
Because he's the nicest.
Unlike them.
Did you read this horror?
My husband lost at the casino
where I won the beauty contest.
They say he bought the jury.
True, not his style.
I know what you think of him,
but he wouldn't do that.
It's humiliating.
- I'll attack them.
- It's just blackmail.
How do I make it stop?
Nothing. They'd brag about it.
Otherwise
get Sacha to buy the paper.
One more.
Yeah. To be accused even more?
No, thanks.
Well, thanks, papa.
Honey.
Let's go!
- Bye, papy.
- Bye, kids.
Good evening, Albert.
- Good-bye.
- Bye.
Mr. Attorney General.
Georges, please.
Sorry you couldn't
get Stavisky
for this broker case.
For medical reasons, what's more.
I'm not beat yet.
Tell me more. Don't go without
explaining. Don't be cruel.
It's too soon. This cheat
has beat justice so many times,
I must stay prudent.
He must have support
up in the chancellery.
How else can you explain
that he's still free?
One wonders.
Corruption doesn't serve anyone.
And certainly not justice.
Surely. That's why,
if you have a lead,
you should tell me.
Once Stavisky falls,
I assure you, you'll
be the 1st to know.
Mr. Attorney General.
When is it?
Next Sunday, in Royan.
The forecast is good.
They'll say I bought the jury again.
How dare they say you couldn't
win a beauty contest.
It'll happen someday.
That day will come.
What is it?
Let me do it.
- Nervous?
- Huh? No.
Sacha.
Did your father say anything?
Papa?
About what?
He came to see me this afternoon.
He seemed preoccupied.
By what?
I don't know. For you.
We've never spoken so much -
6 minutes.
- Are you hiding something?
- From you? No.
Should I be worried?
I think you have reason
to be happy.
You're crazy.
- You love me too much.
- Never enough.
Another question?
No. I like you,
and I know the man I married.
Yeah? You're sure?
Completely sure.
Remember, we're awaited
at the Hungarian consulate.
You're going like that?
I don't know.
Depends on you.
See the Cossack with Arlette?
He wants her at his bachelor pad?
Let him try.
Arlette will give him what for.
- Sacha! Darling!
- See, there's chemistry
My husband.
Meet his majesty,
the consul general of Hungary.
Your Excellency.
Your wife is exquisite,
and so French.
Certainly. She's the national
treasure we don't export.
My respects.
Please.
You can be a boor sometimes.
What did he want,
with his wandering hand?
Indemnity for his countrymen
sold short
by redrawn borders.
Ah? Good for them.
200 million in obligations
guaranteed by Europe.
Jealous.
"200 million."
Too big for us.
Little gambler.
Mr. Stavisky?
Guillaume Faure is waiting
in the salon. It's urgent.
What is it?
The financial squad is in Orléans.
They're seizing the account records.
They'll see the emeralds are fake
and that 48 million are missing.
- And Desbrosses?
- You know him. He'd sell his soul.
I don't know how
to get you out of this.
I warned you.
Sacha.
Sacha, what do we do?
Open! It's the police!
Okay, okay!
- Open!
- Coming!
- Let's not panic.
- By order of prosecutor Prince,
you're under arrest
for organized fraud.
I also have to search.
Go ahead. You won't
find anything.
My books are at Place St-Georges.
A team is already there.
It's over, Stavisky.
Sacha?
Sacha, what's going on?
A flagrant judicial error.
Don't worry, darling.
Meet me at the courthouse in an hour.
It'll be an outing.
What does that mean?
What? I don't get it.
You accuse me of cheating,
and you're upset
that my books are in order?
What do you want,
Mr. Prosecutor?
As for the emeralds,
they were certified as authentic.
I'm the victim of fraud.
I'll be the one
pressing charges.
Is that all?
Ah yes! I forgot.
Before going,
my thanks.
Your investigation
confirmed the robust
health of Crédit d'Orléans.
A state-certified advertisement
that my paper La Volonté
will gladly repeat.
Gentlemen, goodbye.
Darling.
Now, tell me.
What did they want? Is it serious?
Yes, it's serious.
I took risks and I won.
That's how this country is.
They hate winners!
Swear you did nothing bad.
My dear, I'm free,
and thus innocent.
Have trust in our judicial system.
Who warned him?
Who's freezing
cases against him?
Who's filched the transcript?
It's like he's bought
the whole state.
What do you think
of the Attorney General?
He owes his brother-in-law,
head of the government.
He won't bite the hand
that feeds.
I know. I agree.
Your sincerity's touching, Baldi.
It could come back to bite you.
I know who I'm talking to.
I'm deeply republican.
How could he flush
48 million to a bank
that was failing 24 hours before?
Is it full?
I just read it.
It was sent anonymously.
It was accidentally stolen
from a bank safe.
Mine?
I know.
Selling me 48 million
is a good deal for you.
A pittance compared
to the secret inside.
Unfortunately I need this money,
but believe me I regret it,
after what I read.
The 7 biggest oil companies
made a deal.
Even in case of war,
Hitler will get oil?
Business is business, dear friend.
Beautiful bullshit, yes.
And I'm the one accused
of swindling?
Thank you.
This guy makes me sick.
He doesn't suspect a thing.
He's got the world in his hand.
What should he suspect?
We have to pay back the others,
or Prince will never give up.
You're not going to, too?
Did Guillaume send you
to teach me a lesson?
We're on a wire, Sacha.
If we run fast, we won't fall.
We're dining at Enghien,
with Arlette. She loves Enghien.
Well,
if she loves Enghien...
It's fine.
It happens.
I don't give a shit.
I know the wind will turn.
With you or another.
Kindly, you are.
Is Stavisky making you grouchy?
I had him, dammit.
He got away.
That's the problem
with these big fish.
You're not equipped.
Now it's my turn.
I have arguments that you don't.
You're charming.
14, red, even and manque.
- What do I do? Should I play?
- Play, play. Have fun.
Everything on 14.
Ladies and gentlemen,
place your bets.
You look intrigued.
The economy spins like roulette.
The bank always wins.
You want to open a casino?
No. It's the Hungarian obligations.
The 200 million fund?
Yes.
I bought it all at half price.
In 1 month I'll raise
it to 3 times its value.
Profit: 500 million.
You'll need a government green light.
Yes.
Chalamont will fix that.
He's Minister of the Colonies.
So? Colonies aren't
the government.
All bets are placed.
Betting closed.
I don't know you.
I know you. From the papers.
Journalist?
Occasionally.
Mademoiselle...
Kirov. Stella Kirov.
- Russian.
- We fled the revolution.
Looking for work?
If you're offering.
I collect
funds for a friend's campaign,
MP from Bayonne.
For campaign financing,
what beats the Crédit Municipal?
Would you like to meet
MP Garat?
I'm always glad to help
an MP
regain his seat.
Joseph.
Meet Serge Alexandre.
Serge Alexandre, MP Garat.
- Sir. A pleasure.
- Enchanté.
- If you have a few minutes.
- Gladly.
You can't win 'em all.
You got the job.
Congrats. Our underworld friends
are delighted.
Danger suits you, my dear.
Guillaume Faure and Chalamont
did well.
Stavisky got the Hungarian
bonds at half-price.
They'll consume his treasury
and speculate for a crash.
Then he'll have to sell.
- Or else he's ruined.
- What's stopping him?
He lack authorization from
Finance and the Foreign Office.
When Stavisky falls,
the system will crumble
and we'll hang MPs from
the streetlamps. Where to?
The galleries.
Stavisky sent me to a party
for an oil baron.
- You're sleeping with him?
- I'm afraid he's not faithful.
Really!
Guillaume!
For the Crédit de Bayonne,
I had an idea, watching my son
draw on tracing paper.
For every jewel deposited
we'll make 2 bonds:
one real,
a fake, for 1000 times its worth.
It's fake money.
Better. It's undetectable
by the Banque de France.
We'll print our own money.
We're the state!
What?
We've never gone so far.
Never.
That's what
Christopher Columbus said.
Except he discovered America,
not jail.
If he'd thought so,
he'd have been a gondolier.
Hi kids.
What a pretty boat.
You like chocolates?
- Of course!
- Here.
Stop that.
What's that? Stop.
- Chocolates? Want some.
- No, thanks.
Who are you?
Inspector Pierre Bonny.
National police.
What do you want?
Do you know what your husband does?
Business.
Madeleine, watch the kids.
Enormous fraud,
by fleecing investors.
Did you know that?
Yes. You've always known.
He's protected.
It won't last.
He'll be betrayed,
for the good of all.
Who'll betray him?
Someone close.
Traitors are always friends.
The public will know
he changed names
and did time.
Do you know?
I awaited his release to marry him.
You'll laugh less when he falls.
There'll be no pardon.
He's everything these people hate.
Why tell me that?
To save you and your kids.
Leave them out of this.
Think the press will respect
your family?
Stavisky will become
an infamous name.
You gave your beauty to a crook.
Enough.
Let go or I'll scream.
Let me go.
Tell me what you know
and I'll protect you.
What do you want?
That I betray him? Or that I sleep
with you to save him?
I didn't come for that.
All the better.
Think, before it's too late.
Still no chocolate?
Madame.
That's enough.
Come on.
Come dance.
Did you hire the brunette
you met here?
Stella Kirov.
Are you jealous?
I'm worried about you.
Don't worry, I'm drinking to my
father's memory. She's nothing.
Without you, I don't exist.
The bets are placed.
Betting's closed.
6.
7, red, odd and manque.
6, black,
lost and dead.
Sacha, you'll catch cold.
He's dead because of me.
Stop saying that, Sacha.
- Many died from the flu.
- It wasn't flu.
My father killed himself.
He put a bullet in his own head.
He wanted to be French.
To forget our origins.
He went to mass
every Sunday.
When they locked him up,
he lost everything.
He was a dentist in Neuilly.
And...
For others, he was just father
of the cheat.
A foreigner, too.
No surprise he's Jewish,
with a son like that.
I killed him.
It's my fault.
Swear that I'll never learn something
that'll stop me loving you.
No. I'm too afraid of losing you.
I'll never disappoint you.
I swear.
Three months later
I followed all the market
advice in La Volonté,
the Alexandre group newspaper.
I'd won with
Crédit d'Orléans.
I invested in Bayonne bonds.
2,500 F. A life's work.
What's the problem?
I wanted to sell my bonds,
but can't.
According to them, my bonds
were already sold 250,000 F.
How? Do multiple bonds
have the same number?
It would seem.
- It may be an error.
- On all my bonds?
Excuse me?
It's Lefebvre.
Can you come here?
Your bonds do come
from Crédit Municipal
de Bayonne?
- Stavisky's bank?
Who's Stavisky?
No one yet.
We'll do everything
to recover your money.
It's my life's work.
I understand.
Let's get a testimony.
Pardon.
Find the list
of Bayonne depositors.
There'll be other victims.
Keep it quiet.
Right ahead.
Ministry of Labor
and Social Affairs
So Serge Alexandre
is Serge Stavisky.
And then? Hardly a secret.
Alias Jean Sacha,
Doisy de Monty, Victor Martel,
Emmanuel de La Vigerie,
and his police record.
Far fewer people know that,
Mr. Minister.
When they realize who
your government's in bed with,
I wouldn't give much for your hide.
- What does the Attorney General say?
- Nothing.
His Biarritz villa
bought his silence.
The same for
Chalamont and Valencourt,
and other ministers
fed from Stavisky's palm.
If they realize
you let him speculate
on Hungarian obligations,
the government melts, you with it.
Do you want L'Action Française
to say how
you got your Vendée friends
discount Legions of Honor?
Or bought off the oil companies,
thanks to secret information?
- Is this blackmail?
- Yes.
You work for Stavisky's paper?
You're what?
The future,
Mr. Minister.
And the future
is national revolution.
Fascist elite.
I hope you know what you're doing.
We're disinfecting, Mr. Minster.
We're disinfecting.
The bonds are bouncing
and banks aren't paying.
Double-numbering problems
cropping up in Paris, Lyon,
Angoulême, Le Havre, Marseille,
and Rennes. We've the lost confidence
of the banks and the market.
- That comes back.
- With what money?
Something else: apparently
Bonny's in Bayonne.
- Bonny knows nothing.
- Yes, he might find it.
Well, in that case, let's sell
the Hungarian obligations.
In 1 month they've tripled.
500 million.
That explains it!
I thought of that.
Just 1 problem:
the government is against it.
What does Chalamont say?
Chalamont...
He's doing what he can.
He can't stop rumors.
They're saying
you're not very French.
How's that?
I have an ID card,
a military record,
I pay my taxes like everyone else!
You have to have a private mansion
in Saint Cloud for 5 generations?
I'll call Chalamont
and remind him
of his promises. He said
it would be a formality.
How much is formality?
The winds have changed, Sacha.
They owe me their jobs.
Sometimes their careers.
Often their mistresses.
And suddenly they have
delicate moral sensibilities?
They forget that if I made them,
I can also undo them.
I can undo them!
Not everyone's for sale.
- No kidding!
- He's not a politician.
What then?
There's a plot against you.
What?
In your champagne glass, you forgot
that people can betray you.
Taxi!
Ministers and the Foreign Office
oppose the resale of the bonds.
The Bayonne money can't clear
the debt. It's ruin.
That bitch really got you.
We're trapped.
What now?
Sacha?
They've got their guy.
A foreigner.
They'll have a blast,
dragging my name through the mud.
Everything my father feared,
and I,
I gave them the weapon
they'll slaughter me with.
No.
Don't say that, Sacha.
Thanks to you,
many live like princes.
Others will be against me.
Vengeful, envious people.
They'll need a leader,
a fall guy,
a scapegoat.
A Jew, as they say.
Weeks of tailing.
I'm getting lost.
I need Intelligence to look,
to know who it is.
I don't know them all.
Some don't have files with us.
And for the others,
it's the making of the far right.
I've seen him.
Eugène Deloncle.
Polytechnician,
maritime engineer.
Him,
Dr. Henri Martin.
Jean Filliol,
called The Killer,
surrounded by a bevy
of Action Française activists.
Nationalist from Croix-de-Feu.
King's Camelots monarchist league.
Thugs.
Ex-convicts. Bourgeois.
Upper crust.
And this one?
Arsène Schueller,
cosmetics manufacturer,
big fortune,
anti-Semite.
A bastard with pretty hands.
What are you working on, Lino?
A fascist plot?
48 hours in Bayonne
was enough for me.
It's the fraud of the century.
Bigger than the Panama Canal
or Marthe Hanau.
The climate is awful.
It envelops the state.
Can we stop the fire?
Possible. If the far right
doesn't try to burn everything.
They have proof.
They'll make it public
and push for a coup d'état.
Given the gravity of the situation,
I need exceptional means
and a promotion
to the highest level.
The far right is well informed
because you're linked
to a woman from their camp.
It's not all friends in the police.
What's your game, Bonny ?
I'm sleeping with her to defend
your and your friends' interests.
You told her to work
for Stavisky's paper?
No. But they're infiltrating
everywhere. Why not there?
I suspected you were
allied with the fascists.
Am I not here to give you
my report?
- Of course.
But before giving you
what you want,
you have to prove your loyalty.
I serve France,
Mr. Attorney General.
We'll see about that.
You tell me everything you know
about Crédit de Bayonne.
All, Bonny. Don't hide anything.
You'll know all I know,
and tell me everything I don't.
It's me, Chalamont.
What's going on?
Our friends are scared.
Talk to your friends
and tell them I'll reveal
all the money they got
if they don't help me.
The list of names and sums.
That'd do nothing.
I don't care what you think!
It's an order!
You've gotten fat off the backs
of taxpayers for years.
I'm up against the wall.
Know that I'll be pitiless.
I know, but I can't do anything.
It's dangerous to call.
We're watched.
Our phones are tapped.
Are you pleased?
Rather, yes.
Enough to send your rotten
Republic to hell.
"It's the dawn of fascism",
says Brasillach.
Who are you waiting for?
He who gives orders, or takes them?
Answer me.
You used me to get ahead.
You're political parasites,
rats that take power
by spreading disease.
Now it's you going to hell.
We're taking power.
Rome, Berlin, soon Paris,
thanks to you!
Idiot! You fled Bolshevism
and dream of a regime that uses
the same methods.
Stalin's pogroms
and Hitler have the same
stench of death!
Inspector Bonny.
It doesn't surprise me.
Looks like there's a bone
in the manure.
You'll feel unwelcome here.
In 48 hours it's all over.
Everyone in your schemes.
Those crawling to the hangman,
what do they gain?
Beat it, Stavisky,
or I'll shoot you.
He's done.
We have names, details, everything.
The proof against the papers
he bought,
the MPs, judges,
even the police.
You see, I can
restore order to the prefecture,
even while marching
the goose step.
What's Bonny playing at?
I can't tell if he's in control
or using this.
He's stirred things up.
Double numbering. He hid that.
- How much?
- Hundreds of millions.
Stavisky sold 50,000 F bonds
to 30 banks.
All false.
A stroke of genius.
Hope Pressard doesn't overtake us
and silence the scandal.
Nor the far right.
- And my report?
- I'm not sleeping. Go to Bayonne.
I want proof of fraud.
Ditto for the Alexandre group.
We have to outpace them all.
Give up, you're caught!
Against the rules, papa.
You're dead already!
Papa never dies!
Pillow fight!
Pillow fight! Defend yourself!
What are you doing all alone?
Incredible Bayonne Scandal
I have to talk to mama, kids.
Is it true what they say?
Your business, the bank,
the Bayonne bonds, it's all just
a house of cards?
Tell me it's not true, Sacha.
Say you'll defend yourself,
and attack them.
You didn't cheat so.
They didn't say it all.
Because they don't know it all.
You swore you'd not hide anything!
To not lie!
Do you realize?
Do you get it?
Did you really believe
I was a financial genius?
Be honest.
Don't talk about honesty.
You don't know the word.
I want you to look at me.
Look at me.
I was nothing when we met.
I wanted to make you proud.
And all these depositors?
All these people you're
throwing into the street?
You think I don't think about it?
Your dad, after a market crash
that ruined 1,000 people,
did he go put flowers
on Karl Marx's grave?
That's how he lives!
How they all live!
I spent half of my fortune
helping people!
Buying patents! A theater!
Funding businesses!
I'm a good guy!
And us?
Did you think of us?
Your family? Your kids?
I fought just for you.
Ah no. Not true. No.
You fought for your,
for your personal war.
You wanted power
to bow to you.
They won't forgive you.
They won't forgive me
because I'm not from their world.
And did you marry me
as a trophy?
I married you because I love you.
You're the only princess
I know.
There's not been one day,
not one minute,
that I didn't fear
what's happening now.
So...
So I showered you in gifts
so that you wouldn't see,
wouldn't know.
The only thing that matters, now,
is knowing you love me enough
to stay by my side.
Bayonne
What They're Hiding
But I thought there was no
evidence against him.
The situation has changed.
As you noticed.
The worst is to come, an earthquake
that will rock you
and your stock market friends.
- You'll be the 1st victim.
- Why me?
Because your daughter
married the devil.
Who'll believe you know nothing?
- Ridiculous!
- The government won't resist.
Getting rich and pretending
to help the people! Revolting!
He also bought the right,
paving the way for extremists.
I've always respected the Republic.
To your credit.
To save the state,
certain documents must not appear.
It's the only way to control this
and to save you,
and your daughter.
I'm grateful, inspector.
I always knew my son-in-law
was a traitor.
Le Figaro called.
The Canard Enchaîné
want a meeting.
- No press.
I've already told you.
They make lies out of truth.
What do I tell the Commission
about the market?
That I'm away,
or in a sanatorium. Improvise.
Mr. Faure and Mr. Charles
are waiting
with Mr. Biegelman,
the bank commissioner.
- What do your stars say?
- But you don't believe in that.
I forgot. Mr. Maurin
has been waiting since 7 am.
Ah, OK.
Who is "Mr. Maurin"?
Maurin.
You see, there's nothing to gain
by being me.
You destroyed me, sir!
If I were a cynic,
I'd say don't gamble.
- How much have you lost?
- 35,000 F. For you,
this is the price of
casino.
The casino and the market
are the only slaughterhouses
where sheep are happy
to be shorn. Don't go.
Here. 50,000. Merry Christmas.
Why are you doing this?
So I can say I saved at least one.
Or to save myself, who knows?
Don't gamble again, Maurin.
Never again.
Never again!
Prince has declared war.
Investigatory commission in Bayonne
and the whole group.
We caught a break
with Christmas holiday,
but we need to disappear now.
Look!
France, sullied!
Germaine Soleil's boyfriend
has a chalet in Chamonix.
Nothing fancy but it's discrete.
Then Switzerland.
- We're folding?
- They're giving up on you.
What do you want?
To prove their complicity.
No. It's too dangerous.
They'll hide.
You saw the press?
Left and right,
you upset them all.
Your friends have dropped you.
They'll say we should mistrust
aliens and outsiders.
Find shelter quickly.
A train derailed in Lagny.
They say
over 100 dead.
The paper's asking
if we'll mention it
in tomorrow's issue.
Dear,
my very dear mademoiselle Soleil,
is my life in danger,
according to your stars?
I never said that, Sir.
Well, you're wrong.
For I'm dead already.
I'm dead already.
When do you leave?
I don't know yet.
Meanwhile, my love,
there is news for you.
Big news.
Good for some,
bad for others.
Don't believe it.
I have to hide where no one
will think.
Think what?
I'll prepare my defense.
I don't get it.
What's wrong?
Everything's lost.
What? A miracle?
Yes. No.
The miracle is for later.
Don't worry, my love.
All's good.
Tell me, Sacha!
Tell me!
Prosecutor Prince
went back on his word.
He set the dogs on Stavisky
without warning me.
He's wanted his hide.
He's a man out of another period,
another time.
He claims to be incorruptible.
He's playing Robespierre!
If you know how he ended up...
I got orders
to do everything, Bonny,
to keep Stavisky from revealing
the extend of corruption.
- Can I count on you?
- If the Republic is not ingrate.
Are you selling your support?
I'm protecting my future.
I know what you want.
You'll get it.
Yes?
- Mr. prosecutor.
- What's wrong?
A wire says that
Stavisky is dead.
- Good God.
- He was in the train to Lagny.
Was the body identified?
No. It's carnage.
The train got fire.
They found his passport
on a half-burnt body.
Evidently.
Thanks, Lantier.
Seems like luck is on our side.
Stavisky dead,
no more suspects,
no more proof,
no more scandal.
Amazing.
Wonderful.
"Serge Alexandre is dead.
"Founder of ambitious business
ventures,
"he parted in a railway tragedy."
Not bad, eh?
- This is horrible, Sir.
- Germaine,
stop crying.
I'm not dead yet.
Yes, but still, Sir.
You shouldn't joke of such things.
Choose a photo of me
for the papers.
Are you happy?
Meanwhile, write.
"Who was Serge Alexandre?
"Some people say that his
real name was Stavisky,
"for in France,
success requires Frenchness,
"rather than honesty.
"Yes, Serge Alexandre Stavisky
was foreign-born.
"Like Marie Curie.
"They also say
"that he bought favors
and paid off politicians.
"That's right again.
"The list of MP's,
ministers, police, judges
"and others who have benefited
from his favors
"will be published in the next
issue of La Volonté,
"which you should buy.
The tearful editors."
What tripe!
What about Lagny?
The police is investigating.
Bonny is also on the trail.
Pressard must be relieved.
Just Stavisky's papers left.
- He must have left proof.
- Search his house.
Bonny can't clean up.
He's capable of anything.
France in Mourning
Meet in the snow?
Yes, we'll make snowmen.
And skiing!
- Snowmen, skiing...
- Sledding!
We'll have a big blaze
in the fireplace, eh?
But Father Christmas
will burn his butt.
No, my love.
Father Christmas is very clever.
Give me a little hug?
A hug?
Go on.
Go play.
My love,
I won't leave the hotel.
I leave tonight.
It'll be fine. We'll make it.
- I love you.
- Me too.
Sacha!
Thanks.
You believe it?
Go find out. This nutcase
is capable of anything.
Dying or faking it.
It's time to act,
lower the masks.
All Rotten
What's this mean?
Come on, Chalamont.
You know better than I.
The construction permit
for your brother in Villefranche,
your sister's plantation in Dakar,
your son consul in Milan,
envelopes from Stavisky
to sell off
Hungarian obligations:
A million in cash.
It'll appear tomorrow.
Consequences are up to you,
if you still have any honor.
Don't come with me.
I'll find the path.
Mr. Valencourt,
in the name of France,
you're under arrest.
Prince.
Chalamont killed himself.
He just called you.
What did he have to say?
He wanted your help.
Why me?
Maybe he knew you blocked 80
lawsuits and got 32 dismissals
for Stavisky, to protect
your friends in government?
- Slander.
- We'll see.
If it's not the inquiry,
it'll be Stavisky.
Stavisky is dead!
He toyed with us.
Baldi is looking.
If anything happens to him,,
you and Bonny are responsible.
What's your interest in this,
dear Albert ?
Justice, my dear.
Just justice.
Beyond postures?
The corrupt,
the pocketed,
the vassals, the servile.
You'll bring them all down.
I didn't know you're a communist.
Man of law is enough.
You'll have to hurry up.
I was just named head
of the appeals court.
Out of reach of your sarcasm.
You're naive, Albert.
The naive get swept aside.
You can deal.
I must see you.
You don't want me t come?
I'll attract less attention alone.
I was thinking about that.
It's the heart of
3rd Republic morals.
Indeed. Chalamont is dead,
Renaldi resigned.
It's just starting.
Even the chief of police
was named to the Comédie-Française.
He'll learn to play Guignol.
There are protest everywhere.
They chant, "rotten".
Who put these rotten people
in power?
Butt out!
We took away your right to vote.
If voting changed the world,
it'd have been banned long ago.
Many people want your life insurance.
Be careful.
- Officially, I'm dead.
- It won't hold long.
It has to hold to Switzerland.
Find where he's hidden
before it gets worse.
- And when I know?
- He must not speak.
I got orders.
State policy.
His father killed himself, right?
Depression.
Isn't depression hereditary?
Where is he?
Arlette, for the love of God,
respond.
They almost think
I'm an accomplice.
Chalamont, Valencourt, Lieuwen,
all dead!
Except those who were guilty.
I never
wanted the marriage to...
- This Jew?
- OK, that's enough.
I can still salvage the situation.
- Why would you?
- Not for him, I assure you.
For you and the kids.
I can stop prosecutor
Prince's persecution.
What's your husband's plan?
What is he going to do?
Fight, show the evidence he has
against those he bought,
who want to bury him.
He has the evidence with him?
- Yes.
- Very well.
Now, you have to tell me
where he's hiding.
With this evidence,
the worst will go.
And Sacha won't have to fear
for his life, because we're here.
So where is he?
Arlette,
too many have already died.
Is he armed?
I don't know.
Tell me and he's safe.
I have a friend in the police.
Where is Sacha?
In Chamonix.
We'll figure it out.
It was cleaned up in time,
Mr. deputy.
Where's the proof
of corruption?
Stavisky's books, secret accounts,
checkbooks?
I don't know.
You're lying. You swept
the shit under the rug,
buying your colleagues
in the assembly.
Contempt and vulgarity
won't get you anywhere.
You'll land in prison. You know
what they do to lawyers there?
They make them lick asses
with their tongues.
It'll be easy.
You're already gifted.
I have no response for your insults.
- I'm listening.
- Inspector Bonny, please.
It's for you.
Director Bonny.
He's in Chamonix,
Chalet du Vieux Logis.
All the evidence is with him.
Ah, inspector...
...he's armed.
Fortunately some still trust
in the police.
The judge will have you
for organized fraud.
I always thought you couldn't be
both a lawyer and MP.
It's like a pickpocket
running the Banque de France.
I love you, Sacha.
Me too. I love you.
I miss you.
Stavisky Commits Suicide
with Revolver
At Point-Blank
Thanks.
Daladier fired the police chief.
Marches are announced
with the Croix-de-Feu
and fascist leagues.
The army will encircle the capital.
No, the army won't move.
Pétain wants revolution,
ready to plunge us into chaos.
We'll escort him to you.
I'll inform you
when your husband is repatriated.
Sign here.
My husband died in the hospital
4 hours after the shot.
Really?
Don't believe everything you hear.
We're flirting with a coup.
People want a clean France.
Soon they'll want it pure,
with no foreigners.
That's our direction.
Do you know who betrayed your
husband's address in Chamonix ?
Guillaume Faure?
Charles Serva?
Aside from you,
who knew where he was?
It was to protect you,
so they'd spare you.
I was worried sick.
Arlette...
Arlette, my dear... Arlette!
The chief was fired
to please the unions.
Chiappe embarrassed us.
We must save the Republic.
What Republic?
You were in Chamonix
for what Republic?
What'd they promise France's top cop
to shut up Stavisky ?
What's your proof, Rital?
Who sent you there?
Where's the evidence
that disappeared?
Who'd you do the cleanup for?
Say I killed Stavisky again.
Stavisky committing suicide is harder
than sending Seznec to jail.
Even that crook Stavisky
will always be cleaner than you.
The chief refuses to resign
and is calling for our support.
Daladier steps down.
Power is for the taking.
Straight to civil war.
No more state.
But there's still police.
And I'll be there, Bonny.
We interrupt this program
to bring you breaking news.
Prosecutor Albert Prince,
head of the Stavisky
investigation,
was found dead this morning
at 5:45 am,
crushed by
the Paris-Orléans train
at Combe-aux-Fées.
The bag containing
his files has disappeared,
along with precious documents
held in his office in Paris.
Suicide, according to Director Bonny,
or according to Baldi,
a crime linked to shadowy
Stavisky affair?
We'll know more
at the next news break.
Thank you, Stella.
You did a great job.
Will you join the parade tomorrow?
February 6 will go down in history.
We have never governed,
but we are the only option
to save France.
Thus I step from the shadows.
Hardly 1 month
after the death of Stavisky,
an angry mob driven by
the far right
gathered on February 6, 1934,
at Place de la Concorde,
against mobile police units
who received order to open fire.
This morning, we counted 16 dead
and hundreds wounded.
It's civil war.
Five years after
avoiding fascism,
the French government made
the odious choice to collaborate.
Pierre Bonny was recruited
by German secret service
to train,
with ex-gangster Henri Lafont,
the bloodthirstiest
couple of the French Gestapo.
He finally managed
to become someone.
Upon liberation,
just before being shot,
Bonny admitted to having
assassinated Albert Prince
to save the Republic.
As for Sacha,
though everyone knew
his death wasn't a suicide,
no one knows who ordered
him silenced
in the name of the state.
Subtitles: Eclair Media