Based on a true story whose underlying themes prove too obvious and one-note in translation, In the Beginning creates tension not only from its saga of an unlikely con, but from the nagging sense that more urgency and surprise should be forthcoming from such an amazing tale. After robbing his fence colleague (Gérard Depardieu), two-bit swindler Paul (François Cluzet) continues roaming the northern French countryside perpetrating a profitable scam in which he poses as a construction conglomerate employee. It's a reasonably profitable ruse that leads to unexpected, lucrative opportunities when he winds up in a small community where said conglomerate abandoned a highway construction project two years prior, in the process leaving the area in economic ruin. The arrival of Paul, now going by the alias Philippe, is immediately viewed by the locales as a sign that their asphalt-laying endeavor will resume, an assumption that Paul doesn't immediately refute—in part because of the contractors eager to dole out cash bribes for work—and soon gets swept up in, leading to the commencement of a major enterprise all predicated on a big fat lie. Continue Reading »