TOP FLOOR, LEFT WING

DERNIER ÉTAGE, GAUCHE GAUCHE

François (Hippolyte Girardot), a Paris bailiff, is serving an eviction notice in the suburban "projects" on a father & son team of small-time drug dealers. François becomes the victim of mistaken identity and he's taken hostage as soon as he enters the apartment in a high-rise HLM ("habitation à loyer modéré", low-income housing at moderate rent). Panic ensues, the police are quickly called-in while sundry friends and neighbours get involved. The comedy escalates as snipers take position and television camera crews (and François' wife) arrive. How can the 3 men manage to escape? And, to top it all off, the action happens to fall on September 11th...

First-time feature director Angelo Cianci knows the Paris banlieue slum projects well himself - he grew up there, experiencing the same sort of troubled father-son relationship he describes in the film, ("given enough time, most tragedy turns into comedy"). Cianci's film subtly delves into the social realities of France's crime-ridden suburbs rife with unemployment.

Variety's take on TOP FLOOR: "grippingly clever, deftly realized and energetically thesped."

2011 BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PANORAMA
2011 SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL SÉLECTION: Make me laugh
2011 TAIPEI FILM FESTIVAL OFFICIAL COMPETITION: New Talent Competition