The nastiest episodic film of all time is probably “Wild Tales – Everyone goes crazy!” from Argentina, which has long been considered a kind of cult classic. The six short stories in the Oscar-nominated film have only one thing in common: they are all about revenge! A waitress serves the loan shark who destroyed her family, and an explosives expert revolts against the neighing bureaucracy. With grim humor, director and author Damián Szifrón shows normal people in exceptional situations – while at the same time holding up a mirror to a deeply corrupt Argentine society. Less socially critical, but also wonderfully evil, is now also “Six right numbers – luck is not for beginnersfrom France. This is, you guessed it, about money, or more precisely about lottery winnings.
Maxime Govare and Romain Choay are directing this together for the first time. The directors, who are also responsible for the script, enjoy taking their stories about people who are confronted with the prospect of sudden wealth to the extreme – and sometimes even beyond. Greed, in particular, plays an important role. The prospect of a lot of money not only changes lives, but also people themselves – and even completely normal people suddenly become frothing madmen. The first episode really gets things going. Paul (Fabrice Eboué) actually wants to go on vacation with his family when he hears on the radio that he still has exactly ten minutes to drive through downtown Marseille and declare his million-dollar winnings at a lottery branch. In no time, the good family man mutates into an action hero who is absolutely not squeamish about his choice of means.
When Paul (Fabrice Eboué) finds out about his potential lottery win, he no longer pays any attention to anyone or anything on the road.
For Julie (Pauline Clément), however, the time factor no longer plays a role. She has just successfully collected her winnings – ten million! Shortly after the public handover, she meets her dream prince. But Julie is suspicious. Maybe the attractive and lovable Thomas (Victor Meutelet) is just a scrounger? Does he really love her? Or does he just want her money? Such problems are of no interest to the three determined terrorists who are preparing for their attack on the Paris metro.
But then one of them (Sami Outalbali) discovers that he has won 40 million euros in the lottery. The prospect of wealth shakes the terrorist plans. And finally there is the care team of a retirement home, led by Sandra (Anouk Grinberg). She finds the lottery ticket that killed a deceased resident. His heart gave out at the prospect of the jackpot of 60 million euros. What if the care team split the profits among themselves?
Lots of surprising twists
For obvious reasons, nothing further about the content should be revealed here – the numerous unexpected twists and surprises are after all a large part of the charm of this film, which is also really exciting. The cast is well chosen, although the collective effort is more important than the individual quality of the performance. Even though the individual episodes mainly revolve around the question of whether money really makes you happy or, if not, what else would come into question, there are also many interesting aspects that make the film a respectable comedy.
This also includes the principle that in each subsequent story the profit increases even further, raising both the fall height and the absurdity to ever new heights. In addition, each of the individual episodes represents a genre that it quotes and parodies at the same time: action film, romantic comedy, terror drama and social comedy – and the two authors really go to the extreme, increasing tension and comedy using every means possible. They work with time pressure, suspense and surprise, with provocations and boundary crossings.
The five nurses are happy about “their” mega lottery win.
So you can be prepared for a lot, even if the sometimes quite rowdy comedy is probably less polarizing than “The Balconettes” or “Vegans Taste Better” – both newer French comedies that also try their hand at black humor. In “Six Right” there is a lot of wickedness and playing with violations of taboos, but there are no disgusting passages – and despite all the capers and occasional flares of sarcasm, the stories remain basically free of cynicism. The episodic form also creates a kind of overall impression on the topic: What does money do to people?
Conclusion: Everyone is corrupt and greedy – when it comes to the hunt for quick money, nobody seems to offer any quarter, especially afterward a study According to psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Matthew Killingsworth, money may actually make you happy*: But to do this you first have to have it and, above all, keep it. Apparently between 70 and 80 percent of all lottery winners are bankrupt after just a few years. Perhaps this is the only consolation for all those who never win anything. In any case, “Six Right Ones – Happiness Is Not for Beginners” makes use of (almost) all the prejudices and clichés about money and luck and turns it into a pretty biting comedy about human greed in which nothing and no one gets away unscathed.