Fortunes et Infortunes des familles du Nord

Our story is set in the France’s North, near the towns of Roubaix and Tourcoing close to the Belgian border. A famous area known over many decades for its wool and textile industry, which had been in the hands of a few rich families. Today, the big mills have closed – causing heavy job losses all over the region. The “heroes” of our story are the “two sides of the same coin”: a family of wool merchants - as rich and secretive, as most of the famous big families of the North – and the workers (Messaoud, Maurice, Patrick and Bouzid) whose fate has been intricately linked to the merchant family through the decades. The “plot”: the various business plans and strategies concocted and implemented by this great family in order to maximise their capital – often to the detriment of their employees, who could only grin and bear the consequences. A cross-portrait of “masters” and “servants” who look at bygone glory each from their own standpoint, with a mixture of nostalgia, bitterness and resignation: a story of fortunes and misfortunes in our post-industrialised society