Galway Film Society

In The Beginning

Dir. Xavier Giannoli - France 2009 - 130 mins

Galway Film Society, in association with the IFI’s French Film Festival and access>CINEMA, is pleased to present an exclusive screening of À L’Origine (In The Beginning).

Based on a true-life story, a recently released conman stumbles on a small community in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, whose inhabitants have been struggling to make ends meet ever since a huge construction site for a nearby motorway was abandoned some years earlier. Posing as an employee of construction giant CGI for a minor scam, Paul finds himself inundated with questions about what the locals assume can only be the reopening of the site. When he realizes the town’s out-of-business subcontractors are offering 15% in cash to secure their participation, he decides to reopen the site by setting up a “subsidiary” of CGI with a staff of one: himself. Cluzet’s portrayal of Paul as a fumbling opportunist who finds himself involved in something larger than himself, rather than as a smooth-talking evildoer, makes it easier to root for him. The film blends social critique, character drama and crime into one smooth whole. Giannoli’s film is his second feature chosen for Cannes after his Depardieu starrer The Singer(2006). In The Beginning which has won numerous awards, is a subtle and accomplished work, which has resonances, perhaps, for viewers in contemporary Ireland.