The 27-year-old François Perrin, an unruly and rebellious ne'er-do-well, plays football every Sunday at his local club, AS Trincamp. During a training session, he gets into a fight with Bertier, the star of the team, and is sent off the field. The owner of the club –also the boss at the factory where Perrin works – takes advantage of the situation to get rid of the troublemaker and fires him. Thanks to coincidence, Perrin in fact becomes indispensable for the upcoming football tournament and sets his mind on sweet revenge... 

Jean-Jacques Annaud’s (The Name of The Rose, L’ours, Deux frêres) second film is a jewel of a French comedy, a sharp and amusing satire about local village politics and the power of popularity and fame, with Patrick Dewaere in a brilliant role as awkward and impudent antihero.