GREAT CINEMAMASTER LIST
Menu

Master Rank #649

L'Argent

1983

GCML Total7.5240% Greatness · 40% Engagement · 20% Ease

Directed by Robert Bresson

CastChristian Patey · Sylvie van den Elsen

France / SwitzerlandFrenchCrime / Drama85 minNot Rated
Sight & SoundNarrative FeatureModerate pace
Find Where to Watch
Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List
Cannes · 1

Spoiler-free premise

A forged 500-franc note is cynically passed from person to person and shop to shop.

Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free

A schoolboy passes a forged 500-franc note to a photography shop, whose owners knowingly give it to heating-oil worker Yvon Targe. Arrest, job loss, and cascading punishment pull Yvon into consequences far beyond the original deception.

Why it belongs

L'Argent charts one counterfeit note through hands, tills, doors, and institutions, making money's circulation a cold chain of conscience-bound consequence.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

Close views of notes, receipts, cash drawers, delivery vans, courtroom procedure, prison doors, and unexplained gestures make causality material—Christian Patey's Yvon is progressively reduced by systems responding without mercy.

Major award record

Metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20
Cannes1 win1983 · official festival record ↗
Best Director1983 · Robert Bressonofficial festival record ↗

Totals include every recorded competitive win. Only Picture or top-film honors, Direction, Screenplay, and lead or supporting performances are named.

Good for
Film Club
Descriptive guidance derived from rating, genre, runtime, mood, and GCML scores.

Continue the conversation

Double Feature