A successful executive's stolen past resurfaces through friendship, accidental violence, blackmail, and the decision to surrender.
Story Structure — 5 Plot Phases
A Perfect Life Fractures
A corporate succession and a long-awaited pregnancy suggest an ideal future. Nightmares hint that the executive's success rests on a hidden crime.
Key Events
CEO Succession Approaches — A senior executive is preparing to succeed his father-in-law as CEO of a company employing 15,000 people.
Location: French company
Speeches Are Discussed — The future CEO and his father-in-law discuss the speeches connected with the succession.
Location: French company
Pregnancy Revealed — The executive learns that his wife has finally become pregnant.
Location: Home
Nightmares Begin — Despite his apparent success, the executive is haunted by recurring nightmares.
Location: Home
The Buried Formula
An encounter with an unemployed school friend revives an old connection. The executive confesses that his career began with the theft of a chemical formula.
Key Events
Old Friend Reappears — The executive encounters an old school friend and initially fails to recognize him.
Location: Public place
Friendship Rekindled — The two former school friends become familiar with each other again.
Location: Public place
Secret Confession — The executive reveals that his career began after he stole a chemical formula fifteen years earlier.
Location: Private meeting place
Retroactive Repair Proposed — The unemployed friend persuades the executive to meet the unknown inventor and resolve the old theft.
Location: Private meeting place
A Fatal Cover-Up
The friends confront the inventor, whose anger becomes a physical threat. An accidental killing forces them to conceal the crime together.
Key Events
Inventor Confronted — The two friends meet the inventor, who reacts with unexpected wrath.
Location: Inventor's location
Legal Threat Escalates — The inventor threatens to destroy the executive's life through a lawsuit and later becomes physically threatening.
Location: Inventor's location
Fatal Struggle — While trying to protect his friend, the unemployed man accidentally kills the inventor.
Location: Inventor's location
Crime Is Concealed — The unemployed friend decides that both men must conceal what happened.
Location: Crime scene
Buying Distance
The executive pays his friend and later bails him out after a dispute involving a prostitute. He then attempts to remove the liability by arranging employment in Singapore.
Key Events
Thirty Thousand Paid — The executive pays the friend 30,000 euros in an attempt to remove him from his life.
Location: Private meeting place
Money Creates Trouble — The friend spends the new money on a prostitute and later claims that she stole from him.
Location: Private accommodation
Bail Is Arranged — The executive bails his friend out after the dispute involving the prostitute.
Location: Police custody
Singapore Job Created — The executive creates a well-paid job in Singapore to send his friend far away.
Location: French company
The Fingerprint Trap
The planned escape collapses when the friend is arrested for drug smuggling. Matching fingerprints enable blackmail, and the executive ultimately chooses surrender.
Key Events
Airport Arrest — The friend is arrested at the airport for smuggling drugs while traveling toward Singapore.
Location: Airport
Fingerprints Match — Authorities take the friend's fingerprints, which match prints found at the crime scene.
Location: Airport
Blackmail Demand — The friend blackmails the executive and demands three million euros.
Location: Private meeting place
Fortune Cannot Be Gathered — The executive is unable to assemble the three million euros demanded by the blackmailer.
Location: Private meeting place
Decision To Surrender — Unable to solve the blackmail crisis, the executive decides to turn himself in.
Location: Private meeting place
Self-Surrender — The executive follows through on his decision to surrender himself to the authorities.
Location: Authorities' offices
Story Breakdown
Corporate Promise — The executive appears to be entering a prosperous new phase of life.
CEO Succession — He is about to succeed his father-in-law as CEO of a major French company.
Expected Pregnancy — His wife finally becomes pregnant, reinforcing the appearance of personal happiness.
Unquiet Success — Private fear undermines the executive's public achievements.
Recurring Nightmares — He is haunted despite his apparently fortunate circumstances.
Hidden Foundation — His career depends on a chemical formula stolen fifteen years earlier.
Friendship Reopened — An old school friendship provides the setting for a dangerous confession.
Unexpected Encounter — The executive runs into a former school friend and initially does not recognize him.
Confession Shared — He tells the friend the truth about the stolen formula.
Inventor Confrontation — An attempt to repair the past instead exposes both friends to immediate danger.
Meeting The Inventor — The friends approach the unknown inventor to address the old theft.
Threatened Lawsuit — The inventor reacts angrily and threatens legal and physical consequences.
Crime And Concealment — The confrontation ends in accidental death and a shared cover-up.
Accidental Killing — The unemployed friend accidentally kills the inventor while protecting the executive.
Shared Secrecy — The friend decides that both men must conceal the incident.
Failed Escape Plan — Attempts to buy off and relocate the friend only deepen the danger.
Thirty Thousand Euros — The executive pays the friend to disappear from his life.
Singapore Employment — He creates a well-paid Singapore job as a more permanent solution.
Blackmail And Surrender — The escape collapses when forensic evidence connects the friend to the crime.
Fingerprint Match — Airport fingerprints match those found at the crime scene.
Three Million Demand — The friend demands three million euros, prompting the executive to surrender.
Étienne Meunier (Benoît Magimel) is a young executive who has everything going for him. His career is skyrocketing and he is about to become #1 at work, he is married to a picture-perfect wife, has a dream home and money. To top it off, he's charming, healthy and everyone likes him and seems to consider him "a great guy". But beneath the surface, not everything is perfect. Meunier feels some pressure at work, knowing others eye his future position and he and his wife have been unable to have children so far. One day, Meunier bumps into a childhood friend, Patrick Chambon (François-Xavier Demaison) and the two resume their friendship, despite Chambon having struggled as a petty criminal.
