The Ax

Herald rating: * * * *

The 73-year-old director of such classics as Z and Missing is in a darkly playful, satirical mood.

Greek-born, French-based Costa-Gavras, first noted for his dark and gripping assassination thriller Z, specialised in politically explosive films. State of Siege (1973) accused the US of training military juntas in Latin America in the techniques of torture and, in 1982, Missing, a finely calibrated drama (and a high point in the career of the late, great Jack Lemmon), charged that US authorities orchestrated, or at least connived in, the kidnapping and murder in Chile of a radical American journalist who knew too much about the coup that toppled socialist president Salvador Allende.

His new film - based on an American novel - may seem to have a political subtext, too. Bruno Davert (Garcia), a highly qualified chemical engineer laid off when his firm is restructured, is behaving the way the system demands, matching it in callous ruthlessness.

But this is no cri de coeur against a heartless economic system; it simmers with the fury of the middle class appalled that economic reform is hurting them, rather than the poor. There's more stunned outrage than principled rage here; it's a very French comedy, black as pitch, and it owes much more to Bunuel than Ken Loach.

It gives nothing away to say that Bruno will kill to get a decent job, because the movie opens with a deliciously botched drive-by shooting.

Immediately, the hapless hero is recording his confession: after two years out of work and barely an interview, much less a call-back, he has hit on a way of identifying his competition. Now he's hitting the competition.

Garcia, the suicidal bumbler who drove Daniel Auteuil to distraction in the wonderful Apres Vous, is perfect in the part. He goes about his business with a desperate efficiency and a sickly smile plastered on his face. And Costa-Gavras is in a darkly playful, Hitchcockian mood. The film is rich in serendipitous escapes and ironic twists - a subplot involving his errant teenage son getting in a scrape with the police allows for tension and humour - and there's a nice running gag involving sly, pointed messages on billboards and signs on the sides of trucks.

Its sole problem that it's about 15 minutes too long and, as a result, feels less light on its feet than it might have. But it's a deliciously dark comedy with a gracefully ambiguous ending.

Cast: Jose Garcia, Karin Viard
Director: Costa-Gavras Running time: 117 minutes
Rating: M (violence, sex scenes)
Screening: Academy
Verdict: Pitch black comedy about a man who murders his way out of redundancy.