Banqueroute (2000)
Directed by Antoine Desrosières

Film Synopsis

One of the lesser known casualties of the 1995 stock market crash is an ambitious young trader named Nicolas Lanson.  A man who has grown accustomed to a life of unbridled luxury, Lanson thrives on his bloated bonuses, and this incentivises him to take the kind of investment risks that no sane stockbroker would even consider.  As the stock market goes into a dramatic freefall, Lanson's carefree gambling ends in disaster, with accumulated losses that look set to ruin the bank he works for.  Aware that his bosses are after his skin, he runs away, determined to get out of France as quickly as he can.

Lanson may be a money obsessed, risk-taking monomaniac, but he isn't entirely without a heart.  When he sees a young woman trying to hitch a lift on a busy stretch of road he offers her a place in his car, grateful for her company.  The woman, Charlotte, explains that she is on her way to Biarritz to join her old boyfriend Julien.  It transpires that Charlotte's present partner, Mohamed, is a monstrous louse who has just ditched her after learning that she is pregnant with his child.  When she suddenly realises who her knight in shining armour is Charlotte makes up her mind to seduce him for her own ends.  Nicolas Lanson may have escaped from the frying pan, but he is now being subtly manoeuvred in the direction of the fire...