L'or

François Berthier is a young scientist who works side by side with Professor Lefèvre in the pursuit of a centuries long human yearning: the manufacture of gold. After several years of studying and experimenting they are on the brink of success, but something goes wrong. Berthier founds himself between a rock and a hard place, for he believes he has to complete the investigation, while he also feels it is his duty to vindicate Lefèvre's honor.

The film is clearly a child of its time: a decade in which the hope brought by technological breakthroughs walked hand in hand with the fears of an economic relapse and its daunting consequences. The plot and the stages are impeccable in showing both feelings as they come together towards a moral ending, which got me thinking about the "financial alchemists" of our times and the sorrows they cast upon us.