Imposture (2005) - film review

For years, Serge Pommier has dreamt of writing a novel worthy of his reputation as a man of letters.  Lacking inspiration, he occupies himself by writing literary reviews and teaching at a university.  And then one day, one of his students, Jeanne, asks him to read the draft of a novel she has written.  Pommier cannot believe his good fortune – it is the very novel he had intended to write, the key to a great literary career.  Having abducted Jeanne and locked her up in the cellar of a deserted old house, he goes ahead and publishes her novel under his own name.  As expected, the book is an enormous success.  But can Pommier persuade Jeanne to cooperate with him on a second novel...?

This creepy psychological thriller marks Patrick Bouchitey’s return to directing after an absence of almost fifteen years.  Whilst it may be far less striking and original than his first film, Lune froide (1991), Imposture is a fairly good example of its genre, stylishly shot and managing to sustain its dark sense of menace right to the end, through a combination of compelling performances and some imaginative camera work.

The film is based on a novel "I am a frustrated writer" by José Angel Mañas, although there are clearly other influences – most obviously Beauty and the Beast and Ingmar Bergman’s 1966 film Persona.  It’s the latest in a long list of films which explore the complex relationship between a captive and his prisoner, showing how, over time, the roles get reversed, until the captive ultimately has the upper hand.

Patrick Bouchitey not only directed this film, he also took the leading role.  It is his restrained portrayal of an apparently benign university teacher with a dark inner character which makes the film particularly disturbing – you never quite know how far Pommier will go to achieve his aims, and there’s always the prospect that the better side of his nature will prevail.   By contrast, Jeanne – admirably played by Laetitia Chardonnet – is something of an enigma throughout, which adds a sense of mystery and sinister tension to her relationship with Pommier, and makes her "victory" at the end of the story all the more surprising.

© James Travers 2007

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