Pour Elle is the most recent high-profile French thriller to receive a limited cinematic release on British shores. With superior acting from Vincent Lindon and Diane Kruger as strong, sympathetic leading characters and a good, conundrum-driven plot line, there is every reason to expect a gripping experience along the lines of "Tell No One" - a comparison emphasised by the advertisers.
Unfortunately, although in acting a dialogue there is a lot to recommend here, the film does not form as exciting a package as Tell No One.
But first the good: as with many French movies, the representations of family life and the everyday interactions between spouses or parents with children are represented with a care and accuracy that is simply not found in most English language films. France seems to have a surfeit of fantastic child actors and directors who know how to use them. Similarly, the quality of the acting amongst the cast as a whole is superb, hitting the right note of realism without slipping into the cartoonishly grim and dour found in many British films.
The problems with the movie are largely related to the fact that the story is somewhat simplistic for a thriller, with no real twists or anything to engage the intellect, as well as the fact that the constant emphasis of the hardship and injustice faced by the family as a result of the wife's wrongful imprisonment simply makes the movie difficult to actually enjoy watching.
I found myself becoming increasingly depressed at the wife's prospect of spending the next 20 years trying to ward off suicide in a prison cell knowing that she was innocent. A fact that was driven home often enough that the ending did provide enough catharsis to warrant the misery of the first hour.
Although the point is made that this is the story of an ordinary man trying to perform an act that, as the multiple-escapist at the beginning of the film assures us, can only be done by a "born criminal", the film seems to present the escape as surprisingly easy to plan. There is very little attempt to guide us through the process - with much of the interesting, intricate work presented in montage. Rather than focusing on the nuts and bolts of the escape plan, as we would expect from a thriller, these are passed through in a cursory manner as the tension is built around the increasing strain placed on the characters. Although there is nothing wrong with this approach, it doesn't entirely sit at ease with the rushed escape that ends the film (although the ending does involve the cleverest moment in the story, involving an internet car-share website).
Although far from a bad film, Pour Elle is an uneasy mix of personal drama and thriller which achieves much more as the former than the latter. As someone expecting a movie more like "Tell No One", I can't say I enjoyed the film as much I could have.
Unfortunately, although in acting a dialogue there is a lot to recommend here, the film does not form as exciting a package as Tell No One.
But first the good: as with many French movies, the representations of family life and the everyday interactions between spouses or parents with children are represented with a care and accuracy that is simply not found in most English language films. France seems to have a surfeit of fantastic child actors and directors who know how to use them. Similarly, the quality of the acting amongst the cast as a whole is superb, hitting the right note of realism without slipping into the cartoonishly grim and dour found in many British films.
The problems with the movie are largely related to the fact that the story is somewhat simplistic for a thriller, with no real twists or anything to engage the intellect, as well as the fact that the constant emphasis of the hardship and injustice faced by the family as a result of the wife's wrongful imprisonment simply makes the movie difficult to actually enjoy watching.
I found myself becoming increasingly depressed at the wife's prospect of spending the next 20 years trying to ward off suicide in a prison cell knowing that she was innocent. A fact that was driven home often enough that the ending did provide enough catharsis to warrant the misery of the first hour.
Although the point is made that this is the story of an ordinary man trying to perform an act that, as the multiple-escapist at the beginning of the film assures us, can only be done by a "born criminal", the film seems to present the escape as surprisingly easy to plan. There is very little attempt to guide us through the process - with much of the interesting, intricate work presented in montage. Rather than focusing on the nuts and bolts of the escape plan, as we would expect from a thriller, these are passed through in a cursory manner as the tension is built around the increasing strain placed on the characters. Although there is nothing wrong with this approach, it doesn't entirely sit at ease with the rushed escape that ends the film (although the ending does involve the cleverest moment in the story, involving an internet car-share website).
Although far from a bad film, Pour Elle is an uneasy mix of personal drama and thriller which achieves much more as the former than the latter. As someone expecting a movie more like "Tell No One", I can't say I enjoyed the film as much I could have.
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