What if your imaginary friend became your wife's real crush?
An unemployed investor creates a fictious business partner to attempt to improve business. Eventually, his creation gets out of control as his business becomes successful and his wife announces that she is in love with the partner and his son wishes the partner was his father -- although no one has ever seen him. To regain control, the man decides to "kill" his imaginary partner and is arrested for the murder.
Acting
Michel Serrault's sweaty desperation as two men at once
Writing
The Kafkaesque spiral of a lie becoming flesh
Production
Gaudy 70s Parisian finance bro aesthetic
Director
René Gainville
Michel Serrault
Julien Pardot
Claudine Auger
Agnès Pardot, épouse de Julien
Catherine Alric
Mme Alice Duphorin, épouse de Marc, amante de Julien
Judith Magre
Mme Breol, la secrétaire de Julien
Bernard Haller
M. Hellzer, propriétaire d'une banque
Marco Perrin
Colonel Vauban, administrateur de sociétés
Jean Martin
M. Bastias
Fabrice Josso
Thierry Pardot
Henri Virlogeux
M. Urioste, agent de change
Mathieu Carrière
Louis, ami de Julien
Vadim Glowna
Me Marc Duphorin, avocat d'affaires véreux
Astrid Frank
Mme Marie-Claude Hellzer, amante de Louis
Daniel Prévost
M. Zephyr, « Top Concepteur » de l'agence de publicité
Jacques Legras
M. Pernais, inspecteur de police
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This French original was so beloved that Whoopi Goldberg remade it in 1996—though she played the invented partner as a white man in drag, adding layers the original never asked for.
Released months before the 1979 oil crisis, the film's mocking of financial speculation aged like fine wine—or like a scam that finally collapsed.
FR
