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The Axe

 The Axe
type
TVTItem
 The Axe
label
The Axe
 The Axe
page
TheAxe
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comment
The Axe (Le Couperet in French, US title The Ax) is a 2005 French crime film directed and written by Costa-Gavras. It is based on the novel The Ax by Donald Westlake.39-year-old French engineer and manager Bruno Davert (Jose Garcia) has been working at a paper mill for 15 years, improving products and saving money for its shareholders. One day, the company announces that it is forced to "downsize", so 600 employees are laid off and many of their jobs are instead outsourced to a company in Romania. Bruno loses his job, and he is initially confident that he can easily find a place in another company for the same paycheck.Despite applying everywhere he can, Bruno is still jobless two years later and refuses to get an easier to find but lower-paying job. One day, he finds the perfect opportunity in another paper mill. There's only one problem: several other people are as qualified as he is and looking for the same job. Bruno then sets out to eliminate the competition — physically.
 The Axe
fetched
2024-02-06T08:59:45Z
 The Axe
parsed
2024-02-06T08:59:45Z
 The Axe
isPartOf
DBTropes
 The Axe / int_1c6dc230
type
Dad the Veteran
 The Axe / int_1c6dc230
comment
Dad the Veteran: Bruno's deceased father was in the Free French Forces during World War II. The Lüger P08 that he brought home and gets used by Bruno for his murders was a war booty he took on a dead German soldier.
 The Axe / int_1c6dc230
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 The Axe / int_1c6dc230
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The Axe / int_1c6dc230
 The Axe / int_222dc873
type
Black Comedy
 The Axe / int_222dc873
comment
Black Comedy: There's no denying the film is dark, but the protagonist is also a bumbling man some antics of which are genuinely funny.
 The Axe / int_222dc873
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The Axe / int_222dc873
 The Axe / int_2941069e
type
Law of Inverse Recoil
 The Axe / int_2941069e
comment
Law of Inverse Recoil: Averted. Bruno hurts his shoulder when repeatedly trying to shoot the Lüger one-handed, either when training or when killing his rivals.
 The Axe / int_2941069e
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 The Axe / int_2941069e
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The Axe / int_2941069e
 The Axe / int_2d364343
type
Frame-Up
 The Axe / int_2d364343
comment
Frameup: Out of sheer luck for Bruno, his target Gerard Hutchinson commits suicide, and he had another Lüger at his home, which makes the French and German police think that Hutchinson was the Serial Killer and killed himself out of guilt.
 The Axe / int_2d364343
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The Axe / int_2d364343
 The Axe / int_2e154495
type
Shower of Angst
 The Axe / int_2e154495
comment
Shower of Angst: Bruno showers frantically after each murder.
 The Axe / int_2e154495
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The Axe / int_2e154495
 The Axe / int_2f73a81a
type
Cigar-Fuse Lighting
 The Axe / int_2f73a81a
comment
Cigar-Fuse Lighting: Unintentional on the part of the guy with the cigarette: Bruno opens the gas valves of Machefer's kitchen while Machefer is sleeping drunk, which results in Machefer killing himself in a gas explosion when lighting a cigarette after waking up.
 The Axe / int_2f73a81a
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The Axe / int_2f73a81a
 The Axe / int_3f45f1e6
type
Adaptational Heroism
 The Axe / int_3f45f1e6
comment
Adaptational Heroism: Bruno remains disturbed by the murders he's committing throughout his crime spree, while his book counterpart becomes pretty nonchalant about it early on. His book counterpart also displays racist and misogynistic opinions by not even bothering to consider any female or African American targets, dissing them as affirmative action hires who won't seriously challenge him for his coveted job.
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 The Axe / int_40b98588
type
Adaptational Location Change
 The Axe / int_40b98588
comment
Adaptational Location Change: From a US-set story to France, with short scenes in neighboring Belgium and Germany.
 The Axe / int_40b98588
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The Axe / int_40b98588
 The Axe / int_5ce7dbb9
type
Central Theme
 The Axe / int_5ce7dbb9
comment
Central Theme: Costa-Gavras wanted to make a film about the alienation brought by modern corporate policies and human resources management upon employees out of greed, something he sees as harmful social darwinism for societies.
 The Axe / int_5ce7dbb9
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The Axe / int_5ce7dbb9
 The Axe / int_6d332aea
type
Driven to Suicide
 The Axe / int_6d332aea
comment
Driven to Suicide: It turns out that job appliant Gerard Hutchinson (Ulrich Tukur) is suicidal and ends up killing himself, which comes in handy for Bruno, who couldn't bring himself to kill him.
 The Axe / int_6d332aea
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The Axe / int_6d332aea
 The Axe / int_7301ae04
type
Serial Killer
 The Axe / int_7301ae04
comment
Serial Killer: What Bruno becomes, killing one job appliant, then another, then another... It attracts the attention of both the German and French police (since some German men are on his list), of course.
 The Axe / int_7301ae04
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 The Axe / int_7301ae04
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 The Axe
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The Axe / int_7301ae04
 The Axe / int_78fde6df
type
Removing the Rival
 The Axe / int_78fde6df
comment
Removing the Rival: Bruno sets out to kill other job appliants and a manager so he'll be the only one left to get a much coveted job.
 The Axe / int_78fde6df
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The Axe / int_78fde6df
 The Axe / int_7eebe99c
type
The Alcoholic
 The Axe / int_7eebe99c
comment
The Alcoholic: Raymond Machefer, the manager who ends up being Bruno's last victim. He drinks a lot, which works in Bruno's favor — Bruno uses this to talk his way out of the home-invading situation he found himself in and gain his trust before killing him via intentional gas leak.
 The Axe / int_7eebe99c
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The Axe / int_7eebe99c
 The Axe / int_898ff050
type
Villain Protagonist
 The Axe / int_898ff050
comment
Villain Protagonist: Since the protagonist is a Serial Killer.
 The Axe / int_898ff050
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The Axe / int_898ff050
 The Axe / int_9f4bec33
type
Destroy the Evidence
 The Axe / int_9f4bec33
comment
Destroy the Evidence: After he's told by the police that they have identified the type of gun that's been used for the murders (Lüger P08), Bruno gets rid of the gun by throwing it in a river, enveloped in a bag. A passer-by in a canoe almost manages to grab it, but it ends up sinking.
 The Axe / int_9f4bec33
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The Axe / int_9f4bec33
 The Axe / int_a1b141f4
type
My God, What Have I Done?
 The Axe / int_a1b141f4
comment
My God, What Have I Done?: As Bruno states, killing more people doesn't keep going as easy as the first time, and he is struggling more with each murder.
 The Axe / int_a1b141f4
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The Axe / int_a1b141f4
 The Axe / int_a70223
type
Karma Houdini
 The Axe / int_a70223
comment
Karma Houdini: Bruno gets the job at the end, and suffers no comeuppance for the murders he committed. That being said, there's a lady who's looking bizarrely at him during a business meeting at the very end, implying there's a chance Bruno will end up victim of Klingon Promotion in the future.
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The Axe / int_a70223
 The Axe / int_af4d6174
type
Setting Update
 The Axe / int_af4d6174
comment
Setting Update: From America in The '90s in the novel to France in the 2000s.
 The Axe / int_af4d6174
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 The Axe / int_af4d6174
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 The Axe
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The Axe / int_af4d6174
 The Axe / int_b2c737e8
type
Klingon Promotion
 The Axe / int_b2c737e8
comment
Klingon Promotion: After killing paper mill manager Raymond Machefer, and with no other appliant standing in his way, Bruno eventually gets Machefer's job. But then, during a business meeting a woman looks at him from a distance, hinting at this repeating again with him as the target.
 The Axe / int_b2c737e8
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The Axe / int_b2c737e8
 The Axe / int_b778066b
type
Connect the Deaths
 The Axe / int_b778066b
comment
Connect the Deaths: The French and German police are quick to figure out Bruno's victims are all engineers/managers in the paper industry, and come to meet Bruno as a potential target of the killer since his curriculum vitae is similar to that of each of the victims. They don't know that he is the killer, of course.
 The Axe / int_b778066b
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The Axe / int_b778066b
 The Axe / int_dc057cf3
type
Adaptation Name Change
 The Axe / int_dc057cf3
comment
Adaptation Name Change: From "Burke Devore" in the novel to "Bruno Davert" in the film, which still sounds close.
 The Axe / int_dc057cf3
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 The Axe / int_ff6d8ad9
type
Adaptational Nationality
 The Axe / int_ff6d8ad9
comment
Adaptational Nationality: The original novel's protagonist is American. The film, being a French adaptation, makes him a Frenchman.
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The Axe

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Axe
hasFeature
Adaptational Nationality / int_9aab78d7
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It Gets Easier / int_9aab78d7
 The Axe
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Law of Inverse Recoil / int_9aab78d7
 The Axe
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Removing the Rival / int_9aab78d7