The Gentleman from Epsom | The Gentleman from Epsom - 1962
- Director Gilles Grangier
- Product Code: NA-P2066-8049-COM-LT
- Reward Points: 1
- Availability: In Stock
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Tags: The Gentleman from Epsom, Le Gentleman d'Epsom, O Cavaleiro de Epsom, Adorável Vigarista, Los grandes señores, Ein Herr aus besten Kreisen, Джентльмен из Эпсома, Gilles Grangier, Jean Gabin, Madeleine Robinson, Louis de Funès, Jean Lefebvre, Frank Villard, Jacques Marin, Jean Martinelli, Paul Frankeur, Michel Audiard, Albert Simonin, Michel Legrand, Francis Lemarque, Louis Page, Jacques Desagneaux, France, Italy, 1962, 1960s cinema, French cinema, European cinema, comedy, crime comedy, con artist, confidence trick, scams, fraud, gambling, horse racing, horse betting, racecourse, Paris, money, greed, ambition, social appearances, French bourgeoisie, gentleman crook, classic French cinema, French popular cinema, Jean Gabin classic, Louis de Funès, forgotten classics, rare films, film collecting, cinematheque, French heritage cinema
Richard Briand-Charmery carries himself with the assurance and manners of a man accustomed to respectable society, yet his livelihood belongs to a rather different world: the racecourses of Paris. A retired cavalry officer with an intimate knowledge of horse racing, he has turned experience and appearance into a precarious profession, approaching gullible bettors with apparently privileged tips and arranging to share in their winnings. Behind the polished exterior, however, lies a man whose finances rise and fall with every race and every new client.
His carefully maintained performance is threatened when he encounters Maud, the great love of his youth. Determined to appear before her as the prosperous gentleman he once might have been, Richard spends lavishly, ultimately committing himself to an expense he cannot cover. The need for immediate money sends him back into the machinery of racing scams, where the suspicious but avaricious restaurateur Gaspard Ripeux appears to offer precisely the kind of opportunity from which an experienced confidence man can profit.
Gilles Grangier shapes the story as a character-driven crime comedy in which deception matters less as criminal ingenuity than as social performance. Jean Gabin gives Richard a mixture of authority, vanity, wit and vulnerability, while the Paris racing world becomes a compact social arena governed by money, chance, credulity and dreams of sudden advancement. Albert Simonin's writing and Michel Audiard's dialogue place the film firmly within a distinctive tradition of French popular cinema built around sharply observed characters and verbal wit.
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