Lellouche renegade stock trader in Genestal’s timely new film

by Fabien Lemercier

24/02/2009 - In the middle of a global financial crisis, Fabrice Genestal’s second feature, Black Box (working title) – currently shooting in Montreal after a long development phase – couldn’t be more topical. The director – who won acclaim for his debut feature The Squale (nominated for the Best Debut Film Cesar in 2001) – tackles the issue in a thriller about financial speculation, denouncing the all-powerfulness of hedge funds and the folly of the men who manage them.

The cast includes Gilles Lellouche (Public Enemy Number One (Part 1) [trailer]), Vahina Giocante (Bellamy [trailer]), Charles Berling (Summer Hours [trailer]) and Michael Madsen.

Based on a true story and co-written by the director and Paul Besson, the centres on Erwan (Lellouche), a talented trader in a large New York bank. Sensing a link between climate changes and stock-exchange fluctuations, he persuades a renowned climatologist to help him devise a formula for the financial markets.

But a risky manoeuvre leads to a significant loss and the suicide of his best friend, even if the facts later reveal he was right. Banished from the financial markets, Erwan creates a high-risk hedge fund based on a secret and coveted mathematical programme.

Success soon follows with record results. Sought after by investors, Erwan obtains the removal of his risk limits, but his triumph angers his former colleagues, the largest banks and financial institutions.

Obsessed with fulfilling his destiny, Erwan becomes the guide to a new capitalist order. But by playing with fire, he risks getting burned.

Produced by France’s Cine Nomine (Thierry Wong and Pierre Forette), who invested 70%, and La Petite Reine (Thomas Langmann), Black Box received a co-production investment of 10% from Belgium’s Versus Production (Jacques Henri Bronckaert) and backing from Canada.

Selected in 2006 at the Cannes Festival Workshop, the film obtained €500,000 in funding from Eurimages and an advance on receipts from the National Film Centre (CNC).

Having kicked off on January 26 in Montreal, the shoot will finish there next week, before relocating to New York for a few days. The film will be released in France by TFM and in Belgium by Lumière. Meanwhile, Reine Sales will handle international sales.

(Translated from French)