Rendez-Vous ’26: The Money Maker

One of Czeslaw Jan Bojarski’s forged 1,000 Franc notes sold at auction for 7,000 Euros in 2015. That means it held its value better than the currency Bojarski was counterfeiting. The press dubbed him the “Cezanne of counterfeit money,” but he remained relatively unknown, both inside and outside France, until the domestic release of Jean-Paul Salome’s The Money Maker (a.k.a. the Bojarski Affair), which screens again during the 2026 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema.

Bojarski didn’t exactly chose to live in France. The Polish Home Army veteran eventually landed there after the Nazis and Communists divided up his homeland. To survive, he forged identity papers. Yet, ironically, he remained “undocumented” for the first ten years after the war. Consequently, he was unable to find employment as an engineer. However, his old black-market boss had a job for him.

Frankly, Bojarski never really liked him, so he doesn’t really mind when Commissioner Andre Mattei’s bust turns him into a freelance counterfeiter. Instead of bloody shootouts to hijack paper enroute to the mint (as seen in the prologue), Bojarski devises a way to make his own, repurposing cigarette papers. However, hiding his real business from his French wife Suzanne will be the tricky part—especially when his conspicuous deception puts stress on their marriage.

The Money Maker might be screening at film festivals, but it is also a movie, in that it serves up an accessible and suspenseful crime story. It has the hubris of high tragedy and the bullet spray of gangster movies. Reportedly, Jean-Pierre Melville was an influence on Salome’s approach, which definitely computes. Yet, what most drives the film is the terrific chemistry shared by Reda Kateb (whom jazz fans will recognize for portraying Django Reinhardt) and Sara Giraudeau, as the Bojarskis. It is a rather appealing romance—that he endangers through his compulsive risk-taking.

Pierre Lottin also proves he has a talent for playing charismatic, swaggering thugs, bringing similar energy to his portrayal of Bojarski’s dodgy ex-comrade Anton Dow as he displayed in Ozon’s The Stranger. In contrast, Bastien Bouillon is a little bit Maigret and a little bit political game-player, as Mattei. Yet, there is something aptly sad about his Javert-like obsession.

Despite some shared elements, Salome’s film is radically different from Ruzowitzky’s The Counterfeiters. Yet, they would pair up as a fascinating double feature. It is the sort of process-focused film that caper fans really dig. Very highly recommended, The Money Maker screens again this Wednesday (3/11) as part of this year’s Rendez-Vous.