The Clearstream Affair (2014) User Reviews

What a surprise (not!)

[martin-blackwell-248-609404 · 6/10 · 26 February 2015]

This is the story, based on fact apparently, of what happens when politicians are caught, more or less with their trousers down figuratively at least, taking money, in this case for election war chests when huge defense sales are made by multinationals to a foreign government, & how they all (politicians, bankers,& corporates) cover their tracks, hurting people along the way, & how in the end they get away with it even when honest magistrates are involved trying to get to the bottom of appalling misdeeds; & how the multinationals help them to keep things murky. A frustrating depressing end to the story, as no serious sanctions are applied to alleged fraudsters & murderers; & how the little man, in this case the journalist, is hounded to prevent the story from emerging. Well acted, well shot, apart from perhaps too many shots of the journalist on his cell phone at the wheel of his car, the pace is kept up & the 106 minutes went by fast. Be prepared to follow a rather complex tale however.

True story - well-cast and watchable

[meilleuretradu · 8/10 · 27 June 2016]

I speak French, but watched this with a friend who does not, and we both enjoyed it very much. It's suspenseful and the casting is excellent. Gilles Lelouche drives the movie as a determined and gutsy left-wing journalist who never seems to get nervous (as the viewer does when he meets his "sources" in shady locales). It was also fun to spot Charles Berling again in another good role after Ridicule. Laurent Capelluto is convincing and mysterious in his role as as a financier accused of fraud. In fact, all of the characters are memorable. The cinematography is also beautiful, with rarely seen shots of Luxembourg. Yes, this is based on a true story. Watch it!

Not bad

[webcrind · 6/10 · 18 June 2016]

Considering the long history of french movie making, this is only an OK movie. The topic/ story is very interesting and not to forget, current. The script should be a director's wet dream, but yet, the focus of the movie is too much on the central character, the way he interacts with his wife, his children and how he constantly drives a car using a cell phone. It almost seemed like the director tried to distract the viewer. The much better movie on a similar subject is "99 Homes". If you can forgive the current french movie makers that seemingly ignore their own history and the existences of Godard, Truffaut, Malle and Bresson, this is a watchable movie, but it could have been a lot better.

What a rotten world

[searchanddestroy-1 · 12 February 2015]

This very accurate movie is a deep dive into the obscure, disgusting, rotten world of the international finance. Meaning corrupted high scale banks cleaning dirty money for the benefits of the world greatest companies. A world of sharks, where only the bad guys eventually always win in the end. A world where the good folks always finish washed out at the best or crushed, wiped out at the worst. The story of a lonely man, a journalist of investigation, who fights to show to the world how the highest french politicians were deep involved into illegal transactions in which billions of dollars were about. The desperate and lost in advance struggle for this man against an evil system. The one in which we live. Terrific and disgusting at the same time. Made me dizzy. We are all puppets in front all those bastards. From actual events, unfortunately.

quite a fight

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 10 July 2017]

"The Clearstream Affair" from 2014 is the true story of Denis Robert, played here by Gilles Lellouche, a journalist who persisted in his fight to prove the dishonest practices of the banking firm Clearstream.

Since a lot of politicians and higher-ups are involved, he has a hard time of it, especially since witnesses are too afraid to come forward. But the more he finds out, the worse the scandal becomes, and he finds himself embroiled in dozens of lawsuits for libel.

This is a real David v. Goliath story, and we don't see how it actually ended - that's told in the chirons at the end of the film.

There was an emphasis on Robert's dealing with his family, which I could have done without - the actual story of the invisible bank accounts, the raven list, etc., and betrayal from the inside is interesting in its own right.

I thought this could have been better, though it is a compelling story of corruption at the very top and how hard it is for someone attempting to get at the truth.

well put together film

[mcusiman24 · 9/10 · 13 July 2015]

the movie was an important story of bank corruption and money laundering. My review is from a filmmaker's point of view. Most filmmakers would turn movie about banks, computer screens, and courts into a crushing boring movie. Considering that the filmmaking of this story was just tremendous. The cinematographer and whoever did location scouting got some breathtaking landscapes as backgrounds. Most people would film the reporter was on the phone against some gray wall. But that one scene he had him in a dead end alley covered with this beautiful colored graffiti. When he gets a lead and takes off on the highway the movie kicks with dramatic rock and roll music. The story was suspenseful without any car chases or shootouts.

Don't you dare

[tomsawyer-01858 · 10/10 · 22 July 2016]

This is such an important movie, to understand how difficult it is to reveal dark finance. If you are not an insider, it's not that easy to understand how far some seemingly unimportant erased data by a computer administrator can lead to high security state affairs, elections, terrorism, assassinations.

See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil, these are the foundations of success in Luxembourg's Banking were Clearstream could develop strategies to hide names in transactions.

As there is nothing wrong, there's no need for control mechanisms either. If you happen to know to much, if you get caught by remorse, you just get laid off, deprived of work, or even promoted.

The important role of auditing companies to cover up, is not forgotten. Arthur Anderson audited Clearstream, permitting the luxemburger Prosecutor to close the case. One of their employees got dismissed, and Andersen was convicted of obstruction of justice for shredding documents related to its audit of Enron. No biased conclusions, please.

The depiction of the Luxemburg's mentality, made of personal interest and cowardliness not to get involved, especially on the level of Justice, is excellent. So is the acting of luxemburger actors.

Denis Robert, the french journalist, doesn't realize he's engaging a Don Quixotte fight. His sources get treated not as witness, but as accused. How true, how disillusioning. What's worse, his revelations get out of control and mislead to fool ongoing investigations.

This is such an important movie, to understand why investigative journalism is dying, as their sources can't be protected. You better have no children and wife, if you intend to be a whistle-blower.

Personally, I'd kept my mouth shut.