Stavisky

Stavisky... is a 1974 French film drama based on the life of the financier and embezzler Alexandre Stavisky and the circumstances leading to his mysterious death in 1934. This gave rise to a political scandal known as the Stavisky Affair, which led to fatal riots in Paris, the resignation of two prime ministers and a change of government. The film was directed by Alain Resnais and featured JeanPaul Belmondo as Stavisky and Anny Duperey as his wife, Arlette. Stephen Sondheim wrote the films musical score.

Interposed in the narrative are moments of flashback to his teenage awakening to a hedonistic life, to his arrest as the petty crook Stavisky in 1926, and to his fathers suicide after this family dishonour and flashforwards to his funeral, and to the parliamentary enquiry into the Stavisky affair at which his friends and associates testify with varying degrees of honesty.Also punctuating the main story are scenes depicting the arrival of Trotsky in France to seek political asylum, and his sojourn in various country houses and hotels, receiving visits from leftwing activists. These scenes appear to have no link with the main narrative apart from two minor characters the young GermanJewish actress who moves between both stories, and the policeinspector who monitors Trotskys movements and then also investigates Alexandre, until the end of the film when, in the wake of Staviskys fall and exposure as a Ukrainian immigrant, a Jew, and a confidant of members of the leftofcentre government, Trotskys presence is deemed undesirable and he is expelled from the country, while a new government of national unity is formed. ........

Source: Wikipedia