Le roi des cons

Le roi des cons is a 1981 French comedy film directed by Claude Confortès. The story follows an out-of-work actor who, by a twist of fate, lands a job as an inspector at the tax office. Instead of doing his duty by the book, he turns his acting talent to an unexpected use: helping the very shopkeepers he is supposed to audit slip through the cracks of the system. His growing reputation as a master of evasion earns him the tongue-in-cheek title of 'king of the cons'.

The film stars Bernadette Lafont and Roland Giraud, with a supporting cast that includes Francis Perrin, Évelyne Buyle, Fanny Cottençon and Luis Rego. Written by Claude Confortès and Paul Claudon, the roughly 97-minute feature plays as a satirical comedy aimed at French bureaucracy and the tax system, carried by its ensemble of well-known comic performers of the era.