Despite his tight budget, Félicien wants to get Laure a sumptuous present for her 30th birthday. But as always, he waits until the last minute to deal with it. A morning off should be enough to find the perfect jacket for her. The first department store has one, but not in the right size. Same problem at the others. After several failed attempts, Félicien is starting to worry. But he has to find something, and fast. Then he sees it: a perfect, splendid, ideal pair of boots. The price tag makes him dizzy: 869.95 euros. A month’s rent. Madness. Furious, he storms through every department. Time is flying; he has to get to work. The inaccessible boots dancing before his eyes… You only turn 30 once. In a trance, he gives in, buys them… and regrets it instantly.
All day long, Félicien can’t stop thinking about money: what it costs, how it flies away, what it’s good for. Overwhelmed with guilt for what he’s done, he starts to feel paranoid, because the expensive logo on the present’s packaging marks him out as a wealthy man. The other passengers in the train, the homeless people, his co-workers… everybody sees it – or that’s what he thinks, anyway. And his discomfort winds up leading him to do crazy things… 

Reflections on our consumer society, and the relativity of objects and their worth, Un cadeau pokes fun at the world’s obsession with money. As the genre dictates, this crazy day will be filled with pitfalls and end badly!