Christophe Merignac, a youngESCP graduate with a law degree but still unemployed, gets a job as a concierge in a luxury building. Using charm and cunning, he makes himself indispensable. He makes a fortune and marries a young, pretty and rich tenant, whom he happily deceives. The conclusion is bittersweet: he's "made it", but he doesn't love anyone. What's more, a young concierge who looks like a brother has just arrived in his building.
Acting
Le Coq's slippery charm masks a void—devastating final shot.
Direction
Girault's light touch lets the darkness creep in unnoticed.
Writing
The cyclical ending stings: meet the new concierge, same as the old.
Director
Jean Girault
Bernard Le Coq
Christophe Merignac, jeune diplomé, ambitieux
Maureen Kerwin
Fabienne, vivant de ses charmes
Jean Carmet
Ludovic, frère de Jocelyne
Katia Tchenko
Jocelyne, sœur de Ludovic et amante de M. Foraz
Michel Galabru
Robert Forazn homme d'affaires
France Dougnac
Véronique Foraz, fille de M. Foraz
Jacques Balutin
Luigi, le majordome de M. Foraz
Alice Sapritch
La comtesse de Beauchamp-Laville
Daniel Prévost
Daniel de Vaucor, neveu de la comtesse
Daniel Ceccaldi
Paul Raymond, le député
Maria Mauban
Mme Elizabeth Raymond, épouse du député
Maurice Biraud
M. Massoulier
Claudine Coster
Mme Massoulier
Sophie Agacinski
Marie-Agnès Faure
Evelyne Dassas
Dominique Renard
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
A rare 70s French comedy with a genuinely dark soul—Girault usually kept things lighter with de Funès, making this cynical outlier fascinating.
The title's double meaning: 'concierge' is both doorman and, in older French slang, a prison warden—Christophe builds his own gilded cell.
FR
