However, what his employers at Société Générale discovered in January 2008 was an unprecedented catastrophe: a supposed hole of 1.5 billion which would lead to an even deeper abyss. Overnight, when the French bank was forced to recognize its losses, the name of this young 31-year-old “trader” (market operator in French) was on everyone's lips, soon appearing in newspapers around the world.
An enlightening and clear story
Through its four 45-minute episodes, the series sheds new light and testimonies – some of which have never been seen before – behind the scenes of one of the biggest scandals in international finance: the Kerviel affair, as it soon became known. From the name of this young man “trader-fraudster” totally unknown who became public enemy number 1 of the world stock market, overnight. The documentary series traces the unfolding of an earthquake which, through the pitching of Société Générale, one of the largest French banks, could have caused a stock market crash of unprecedented magnitude.
“The Outsider”, the film by Christophe Barratier on the Kerviel Affair
Former employees, journalists, leading legal and political figures testify, on camera, to the extreme anguish and heightened emotions that this affair has aroused. Among the employees interviewed was Maxime Kahn, another trader responsible for settling, in three days, the 50 billion euros of “dangerous positions” taken by Jérôme Kerviel in order to allow Société Générale to reduce its losses to the tune of 4.9 billion ultimately.
All this might seem obscure or abstruse, but Fred Garson (The Dancer) manages to make a lucid and fascinating story, revealing the customs of a certain era and a certain environment. While focusing on the contrasting personalities of the different protagonists.
The little secrets of finance
To outline its contours, the story adopts different forms, through extremely creative visual production. Initially a financial thriller – allowing newbies to discover behind the scenes how trading rooms operate – it then turns into a media-judicial soap opera where everyone tries to save their skin, but also to never lose face. All of which gives the Stock Market more than ever, at times, the appearance of a giant casino.
Trial: Will Jérôme Kerviel be the only one to pay?
Beyond the total absence of remorse of Jérôme Kerviel, renowned “aggressive trader”“addicted to winning” – who admits to having “always been fascinated” by the financial sector – what is striking is the completely uninhibited way in which the excesses of international finance are admitted and detailed by those who have played a part in them or observed them… An instructive, edifying story.
This original creation, just like the series A devoted friend, on the Paris attacks of November 2015, proves the ambitions of HBO Max within France.
