ABSTRACT

This chapter examines three European films about debt, all made around 2000: British Rogue Trader (1999), directed by James Dearden; French L'emploi du temps (Time Out, 2001), directed by Laurent Cantet; and Polish Dlug (Debt, 1999), directed by Krzysztof Krauze. It argues that in them debt is linked to neoliberalism, a political and economic system hegemonic in the period in which they are set. Krzysztof Krauze (1953-2014), the director of Debt, fits well the idea of a committed, politically minded director, of a type that was common in Eastern European cinema before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Laurent Cantet, in common with Krzysztof Krauze in Poland, belongs to the group of most respected filmmakers in his country - France. The omnipresence and hegemony of capitalism are reflected not only in the workplace but also in private lives. A home in these films is no longer a safe haven, but an extension of the neoliberal world.