The film, based on real events, tells the story of the Zillion Club and its owner, Frank Verstraeten. The club was popular in Belgium in the 2000s. Frank was a promising and forward-thinking IT specialist who wanted to conquer the world through his intelligence, ambition, and hidden complexes.
The tools and initial motivation already hint at how this story will end. There is a theory, and perhaps some research, that serious success is achieved by people who can be described as psychopaths. They lack compassion, are selfish, arrogant, and willing to go to any lengths to achieve their goals. But what is their purpose?
Psychopaths are usually people who become psychopathic, not those who are born that way. The roots of this go back to childhood, when misfortune in the family, bullying at school, or some other trauma forces the mind to change direction. Most often, this becomes a negative motivation in the future - to be better than others (in our case, to prove that Frank is "higher" than others). This can be done in different ways - becoming richer, having a beautiful wife, gaining power.
This can be seen in the film, where the main character achieves his goals with people, which helps him for his own personal reasons. His mother tries to realize herself in her son, giving everything she has for the sake of his success. The most beautiful girl in Belgium becomes his wife, not out of love, but because she is the best - as a thing. The wife herself does this because she is fleeing from the influence of her father's despot. A friend in the porn business becomes a profitable ally. And the club was created.
Since the initial motivation is rather low, the goals stop there. There is no development. And then it turns out that the complexes did not disappear anywhere, personal problems did not evaporate. They were drowned out by the desire to reach the goal, and when the goal was achieved (the goal was to realize the ambition to become higher than others), everything returned with a new wave. Suspicions from nothing to do and betrayals - the union became unprofitable, and everyone began to suffer from garbage.
All because negative motivation, although it can effectively lead to the goal, but these goals are limited and low - having a club and such a wife, the main character was already better and more statuesque than everyone else. Why develop further? The intoxication of success leads to failure, and the whole system collapses. Although, it would seem, with so much money and influence, it would be possible to do a lot of things instead of suspecting everyone. But there is no. This is the fate of psychopaths. Hostages of complexes that are both a gift and a curse.
The film is worth watching if you are in a philosophical mood and want to think about the basics of the universe and the behavior of primates around us. The film tries to show reality as it is, although we already see it every day, so I can't say what exactly the artistic value of the film and its meaning are, except to think about what drives us and what it can lead to. It is worth noting the camerawork, color exposure, and overall atmosphere - they pull out the situation much better.
