Banking and finance are themes of interest to directors and cinemagoers. The cinema has often portrayed big bankers or simple credit institution employees, bank customers, speculators, judges in charge of financial affairs, but also robbers. What do these films, sometimes critical, even fierce, tell us about the money trade and our relationship to money?
In order to contribute to the debate on these issues, the Cité de l’économie presents its second filmography: a selection of 39 films on the themes of banking and finance.
From 1915 to 2014. From Chaplin to Lepiniotis, not to mention Capra, Antonioni, Zidi, Girod, Arcady, Jewison, Scorcese, Mocky, Stone, Mordillat, etc.
From drama to comedy, but also westerns, animated films, etc. Each film is presented within an interactive timeline, with a short summary of the economic aspects related to banking and finance.
It is also accompanied by an illustration: a poster, a photo or a trailer. Resources “To find out more” are available for each film: a link to the film’s IMDb (International Movie Database) page (in English) and a link to the Wikipedia page (in French).
We hope that this filmography will inspire you and guide you in your future choice of films, but also provide a different, complementary, way of looking at the concepts, issues and debates on banking and finance.
We hope that it will be especially useful for teachers, pupils and students in the framework of inter-disciplinary studies. This selection does in no way claim to be exhaustive.
Do not hesitate to inform us of other films that you believe should be included in this filmography in the "Comments" section below.
We would also like to point out our bibliography on the cinema and economic issues (in French): L’économie fait son cinéma
And two websites devoted to resources on the use of films for educational purposes:
- Zéro de conduite, partner of the CANOPE network, which offers special dossiers prepared by teachers;
- Le site des SES de l’ENS de Lyon (website of the SES-ENS Lyon) which gathers links, notably to academic and teachers’ websites.
Published on 31 July 2015. Updated on 19 January 2022