Just a little bit of luck

France, 1940. While the country is sinking into the chaos of war, Jean Chevalin (Benoît Poelvoorde) has problems of his own: His life is simply... miserable.

France, 1940. While the country is sinking into the chaos of war, Jean Chevalin (Benoît Poelvoorde) has problems of his own: His life is simply... miserable. One day as a soldier in the French Army is enough for him to realize that he is absolutely unsuitable for military service. So he deserts without further ado to get back to what he does best: cheating his way through life and always being haunted by bad luck. But because he believes that everyone is really luckier than he is, Jean devises a plan that is so absurd that it almost seems brilliant: He pretends to be a Jew in order to get help with his family and secretly get into the “free zone” — the unoccupied areas in the south of the country. A hopeful but rather naive idea that plunges him from one weird mess to the next. Jean suddenly awakens unexpected talents: chaotic improvisation, risky excuses and panicked spontaneous decisions determine his everyday life. While his family vacillates between disbelief and admiration, Jean stumbles through a world full of bureaucracy, distrust, and involuntarily funny encounters — always worried that his “disguise” could be revealed at any moment.

Director: Pascal Elbé
Actors: Benoît Poelvoorde, Audrey Lamy, Zabou Breitman, Pascal Elbe