La Proie (2011) - film review

Franck Adrien is serving a prison sentence for robbery.  When he learns that his wife is in financial difficulty he confides in his cellmate, Jean-Louis Maurel, the location of the booty of his last heist.   Maurel is due to be released soon and Franck is certain that he can trust him to come to his wife’s rescue.  When he later learns that Maurel is a psychotic killer, Franck becomes anxious for the safety of his wife and daughter - so concerned that he breaks out of prison and goes chasing after him.  But Maurel is no fool and arranges things so that it is Franck who appears to be the marauding killer.  As Franck goes after Maurel in a frantic bid to clear his name, he is in turn hunted by the police who are certain that he is Public Enemy Number One...

If there is one genre where French cinema has traditionally struggled to keep pace with its American counterpart it is surely the full-bodied action thriller.   This may be down to budget - such films come with a price tag that is way beyond the means of most French film directors - but it may also be down to the fact that French filmmakers are generally far more concerned with characterisation and truthful representations of life than plot.  It’s not easy to construct a fast-moving action thriller when the main protagonists are angst-ridden depressives desperately searching for meaning in their lives whilst languorously pursuing a string of unfulfilling romantic liaisons (that being the brief for virtually every French film since 1895).  This may be changing, however.  Over the past decade, a new wave of French filmmakers have come to the fore who, having grown up on the latest species of adrenaline-pumping Hollywood action thriller, have discovered how to replicate a genre which, in most people’s mind, is the very antithesis of the archetypal French movie.  Eric Valette belongs to this generation and his latest film La Proie (a.k.a. The Prey) is proof conclusive that the French can turn out a spanking good chase thriller if the will and the Euros are there.

After a slow and somewhat unpromising beginning (which sluggishly works its way through every prison cliché you care to think of) La Proie suddenly gets off the ground with a vengeance.  As the film goes charging off like a mad thing (fuelled by those two great forces of nature: a father’s desire to save his daughter from an evil child molester and a cop’s determination to salvage his reputation), you hardly notice that there is virtually nothing to the plot.  Avoiding intrusive special effects and other cinematic gimmickry, the film feels more realistic and has somewhat more depth to it than the average Hollywood action film, but it is every bit as fast-moving and compelling.  It is a pity that Valette didn’t put as much effort into the screenplay as he did into his direction, as the plot and wafer-thin characterisation are the only things that count against the film.  That said, Valette assembles a superb cast and their performances are such that this hardly matters.

Albert Dupontel is ideal casting for the heroic lead, one of the few French actors who has the physicality for a demanding action role and the ability to play the everyman character convincingly and sympathetically (and he reputedly did all of his own stunts).   Another casting coup is that of Stéphane Debac and Natacha Régnier - they make the unlikeliest pair of serial killers you can imagine and this is why their characters are so utterly chilling.  It’s become a bit of a cliché, but the scariest villains are those you least suspect of being capable of villainy.  Sergi López is a surprising choice for the driven cop who leads the police hunt, but his manic Latin persona makes an effective contrast with the more level-headed Alice Taglioni, whose character leaves us in no doubt that a woman can be as tough as any man, if not tougher, when the occasion arises.

Towards the end, as the film surges towards its tension-filled climax like a banker alighting on his end-of-year bonus, credibility is perhaps stretched a little too far.  As everyone and his dog seems to be chasing after everybody else (and their dogs), the film risks turning into an absurd parody of a chase thriller.  You half expect the camera crew to suddenly enter the frame, hotly pursued by an irate film director and his team of sound technicians, à la Monty Python.  Still, Eric Valette somehow manages to steer the film away from the unintended comedy abyss and it ends as well as it might.  If you don’t expect anything too profound of it, La Proie is an enjoyable runaround action movie, imaginatively directed, well-paced and well performed by some fine film actors.   To its credit, the film does not content itself with being a mere imitation of the American action thriller - it has a definite French identity, one that is refreshingly devoid of nombrilistic introspection and self-conscious auteur posturing.  It may not be everyone’s idea of a French film classic, but La Proie is a respectable action romp for those who much prefer Peckinpah to Proust.

© Phil Barker 2012

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