The Man in the Basement

A Parisian couple of Jewish origins decide to sell an unhealthy basement in their building. An ordinary man, Mr Fonzic (François Cluzet), is running as a potential buyer. So far everything works normally, but the man, who happens to be a Nazi holocaust denier, moves into the basement and makes it his permanent residence. The couple tries by all possible means to cancel the sale, without success. Things get even more complicated when Mr. Fonzic befriends his teenage daughter, over whom he seems to exert a terrible influence, becoming a threat to his family.

Philipe Le Guay, director of the film, gives us more details about this proposal based on real events: "I proposed never to be in the 'point of view' of Fonzic. We don?t accompany him to his basement, we don?t see him in his daily life. It doesn?t matter as much about his reality as it does about the shockwave he causes around him. The way it becomes an obsession for all the characters. It?s always filmed confronting others, whether it?s Simon or his daughter Justine. His mastery is mental: he instills doubt in thoughts, like a poison. He lives in the basement, lurking in the shadows, ready to emerge... (...) Fonzic adopts rhetoric: he only asks questions, and everyone pursues him! The worst thing is that he ends up believing it".