‘Gold Brick’ (Original title: CASH) is yet another addition to the recent ‘Eat the Rich’ themed bandwagon. Written and directed by Jérémie Rozan, it tells the story of a factory worker who plans to grow rich by taking on his wealthy employer’s business. Daniel starts working at Patrick Breuil’s factory while secretly hoping to be as financially strong as him.
The film stars Raphaël Quenard, Igor Gotsman, Antoine Gouy, Agathe Rousselle, Nina Meurisse, Grégoire Colin, and Ayoussef Hajdi in the central roles. Its one-and-a-half-hour runtime presents a highly suspenseful narrative filled with bouts of decisive comedy.
*Spoilers ahead*
Gold Brick (2023) ‘Netflix’ Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis
What happens in Netflix’s Gold Brick?
Gold Brick revolves around the journey of Daniel Sauveur (Raphaël Quenard), who was born in Chartres from Central France. He aspired to grow rich since his childhood. Like the other parts of France, their town also had a Breuil and Fils factory. He used to look at how the Breuil family members used to conduct their casual business. But unlike the popular narratives of ‘hard work pays off,’ he learned from very early on that money does not work like that. The aspect of generational wealth trumps any hard work or morals.
Daniel’s father died when he was fairly young. He was raised by his father’s friend – Unc, who used to work for the Breuils. That’s how he got an inside look into the Breuils’ mansion. Besides Unc, Daniel had the firm support of his close friend, Scania (Igor Gotesman), since their adolescence. Seeing their parents’ struggles, they planned never to work for the Breuils. They made it work for a while until the bank denied them a loan since they had only a single client. As a result, they eventually ended up working for the Breuils.
Chief José Kowalski (Stéphan Wojtowicz) introduced Daniel to his duty. Daniel had to work on a six-month short-term contract for a meager wage. The power of decision stayed in Kowalski’s authority, and Scania even had to pay to get Daniel this gig. Other factory workers looked at a job at Breuils as their dream. Daniel, however, looked past this mirage and understood the reality. He will never make it to the top by just grinding for months. He needed a better plan.
How does Daniel plan to get past his unrewarding factory job?
Daniel starts working in the supply chain of luxury brands and does his menial tasks. He sees the company handed down to Patrick (Antonine Gouy) after his father’s death. Patrick’s wife, Béatrice (Nina Maeurisse), invites the factory workers for a celebration of this appointment and considers it a ‘charitable gesture.’ Daniel gets sick of living like this. In that state of discontent, he stumbles upon an online inventory of luxury perfumes like what the Breuils have in their factory. He also realizes that a part of their supply goes out unchecked.
Due to these observations, Daniel plans to get hold of these perfumes and sell them on their own. Scania is not on board with it. Meanwhile, Patrick suffers a Succession-like conflict of being considered unfit for the role, unlike his father. Eventually, he gets introduced to Brice Nougarolis (Grégoire Colin), a VP of an online perfume retail shop. But Daniel dismisses Nougarolis as an ‘online discounter.’
On the other hand, Daniel goes ahead with his ‘sneaking perfumes out of the factory’ plan. He cleverly gets them out through damaged boxes and starts enjoying life with its earnings. When he goes to a bar to celebrate this with Scania, he meets Virginie (Agatha Rousselle). He tries to impress her by putting on an impression of how a rich person would behave. While doing that, he reveals his start-up idea, where he sells luxury goods at discounts online.
Daniel’s silly showcase of wealth soon catches up to him. Kowalski takes away an expensive watch that Daniel wears to work. Later, Daniel’s website stops working since a customer reports his product as a counterfeit. Two police officers show up at his house and ask him about this online business. Daniel refuses that he even had a computer to do such a thing. He also cooks up a lie saying his employer gave every factory worker a perfume bottle as a gift, which they all wanted to get sold through this online business. He says it was only a one-time thing.
After this failure, Daniel and Scania stop their operation for the time being. Suddenly, he sees Virginie in the factory and realizes that she works in the management unit. He goes up to meet her and tries to cover up for what he told her in the bar. In the end, he also gets her to agree to go on a date with him.
Later, Daniel notices two men selling counterfeit Apple devices in the local market. He tries to sneak a look inside their van and gets attacked by them. To save himself, he tells them about his stock of perfumes. They decide to latch on to this golden opportunity. At the same time, Daniel finds a supply chain besides the Internet. This way, they won’t be nearly as traceable.
In the factory, Kowalski interrogates Daniel and Scania about their shady scheme. He asks for a cut in their shares in exchange for keeping mum about it. So, later, the two friends give him a beating to make him take his words back. They soon go back to work as before, which also buys Daniel a great house.
Meanwhile, Stéphane (Ludovik) introduces a plan to Patrick to use robots in their factory to save time. Virginie points out the issue with a considerable amount of products going out without monitoring due to that. But Patrick does not take her opinion seriously. He goes along with Stéphane’s plan to sustain the innovative brand image.
Back home, Béatrice tries to convince Patrick to join hands with Nougarolis. She pitches a big opportunity to go online with their products. In the factory, Daniel gets a shocking realization that his previous job will now be completely automated. He gets confined to a desk job, which disrupts his scheme. He is not the only dissatisfied professional at the factory.
Virginie is also disappointed in how Patrick gets everything handed over without the necessary skillset. In contrast, she had to undergo a year-long mandatory training to prove her worth. She openly expresses her lack of confidence in Patrick’s leadership to his face.
Why do Virginie and Daniel join hands?
While Patrick decides to join hands with Nougarolis’ parfum-vip.com, Virginie joins hands with Daniel to take down her brother’s empire. Daniel notices their shared sense of resentment against Patrick and, thus, decides to rope her into their scheme. She informs him about the new method of monitoring products in the factory. They decide to use the 1.1% of margin of error to their advantage.
Scania is not as hopeful about this joint venture. He thinks it will put a burden on their supply chain. But Daniel finds the opportunity irresistible. The three eventually crack up a plan to get a team of industry workers on board for their operation. They create a smooth, elaborate process to get the unmonitored perfumes in their storage. However, the money soon starts to make these workers succumb to flashy expenses. Since Daniel had learned his lesson, he kept them flaunting only inside the closed confines.
How does Patrick learn about the missing stock?
Eventually, Patrick gets a hint of the scheme once he finds empty storage boxes in their factory. He confides in Béatrice while being unaware that she has a sexual affair with Nougarolis. Because of her, he learned about the stock issue. So, he hires Ange (Youssef Hajdi) to infiltrate the factory and get details on the ‘thieves.’ Ange finds out that an employee drives an Audi, which is impossible with their regular wages. Ange manages to get this man out of work for a day and replaces him in Daniel’s operation.
Daniel sees that and tries to stop Ange. But soon after, he offers Ange some cash to work for the day. Ange plays defensive at first but eventually accepts the offer. While other teammates do not consider bringing a new member a good idea, Daniel lets Ange join their gang. Meanwhile, Patrick confides in Virginie about a scam happening in their factory. She meets Daniel to warn him about it and expects him to start cooling things down. But Daniel does not accept this as his defeat.
Why does Ange turn on Nougarolis?
Ange meets Nougarolis to receive and discuss his further pay. But Nougarolis treats him poorly, which irks him. Daniel learns about the stock inventory audit and increases the security of the factory to curb robbery attempts. Virginie warns Daniel again, saying it would also affect her badly since she helped them. But Daniel does not listen to her, which creates a rift between them. He is driven to attain panache in his life.
Meanwhile, Ange decides to be disloyal to Nougarolis because of his demeaning treatment. He goes behind Nougarolis’ back to inform Patrick. Since Daniel gets wind of Patrick’s knowledge about their robbery, he concocts another plan. He decides to stage a scene where they will rob themselves. This way, they will keep the products in their control while not getting the blame. At the time of the execution, Ange suddenly departs from the gang.
Ange eventually sneaks inside Daniel and Scania’s storage unit and clicks pictures to send to Patrick. But the gang realizes he is the rat and makes him run for his life. Surprisingly, that does not limit Patrick from winning over his notorious business partner. He manages to save his skin despite the inventory scam.
Gold Brick (2023) ‘Netflix’ Movie Ending Explained:
How does Patrick save his skin despite the inventory scam?
Before the gang’s faux robbery attempt, Patrick had called Daniel for a meet. He revealed that he knew about Daniel’s scam and ordered him to return all the stolen items. He also remembered that they were in the same class during school. But Daniel refused to kneel down to Patrick. Instead, he made a counteroffer while making Patrick believe it would benefit him equally.
What deal did Daniel make with Patrick?
Daniel makes a deal where he gets to keep everything he steals in exchange for disappearing the perfumes on the same day of the robbery. He decides to fill two trucks with an amount equal to the missing stock for Patrick to cover the insurance. The auditors would not notice a change since Daniel’s gang would replace the perfume bottles with ones filled with water. However, in the future, it would put Nougarolis at risk for selling fake products on the website. That makes Patrick come on board with it, and he will emerge as an unscathed hero.
In the end, Daniel arises as a newcomer in the cosmetic valley with his business. On the other hand, Patrick decides to leave the city. While he offers to invest in Daniel’s new business ventures, Daniel refuses. Before leaving, Patrick informs that Virginie is an angel that saved him. Eventually, the couple gets together, and Patrick returns to the house Breuils had snatched away from his father years ago.
So, through ‘Gold Brick,’ we get another rags-to-riches tale that makes several strikingly valid & realistic points related to wealth disparity. It’s a surprisingly solid & amusing entry in the ‘eat the rich’ themed works.
