A mix of modesty and violence, Un perdant magnifique is the portrait of a unique personality, as monstrous as it is irresistible.
This is the story of a man who returns after a long absence. His name is Jacques. He is gravely ill. Yet, he never stops coming up with grand schemes, which he shares with his stepdaughter during their sleepless nights. Jacques is quite a character. An eccentric. And a businessman. With him, life becomes a performance that he orchestrates like a kind of magician.
This is the story of a young girl, Anna, who lives in Le Havre with her mother and her sister Irène. Jacques is her stepfather. When he arrives, on Christmas Eve, he imposes rules on the whole family, dictated from his whimsical mood. Liar, sincere, tyrannical, extravagant, enthusiastic—his madness constantly unsettles Anna. Half-gentleman, half-drifter, he is an illusionist for whom reality is just one hypothesis among many.
The story takes place in Le Havre, Abidjan, and Rome. In the 1980s. The girls drink gin while watching Rocky. Days slip away toward a predictable ending.
This is the story of a downfall. Jacques’s, of course. And the end of youth, whose memory remains an open wound.
