Le Pacte du silence (2003) - film review

In a prison, a young detainee awakes to find her cell has been set alight.   Simultaneously, an identical woman in Carmelite convent collapses for no apparent reason.  Unable to find anything physically wrong with the sick nun, a priest-doctor, Joachim starts to look for a psychological explanation.  He discovers that the nun, Sarah, has an identical twin sister, Gaëlle, who has been in prison for the past ten years after committing a truly terrible crime…

After a totally confusing first fifteen minutes, Le Pacte du silence manages to settle into what promises to be a fairly respectable psychological thriller.  Until the word “twin” has been uttered it is doubtful whether any spectator could make any sense of the two inter-cutting story strands which apparently involve the same woman.  The film would seem to have everything going for it – strong performances from Élodie Bouchez and Gérard Depardieu (two of France’s leading actors), a well-paced script and some stylish and atmospheric cinematography.  The sense of mystery mounts, the spectator is hooked by the unfolding drama and then... the whole thing falls apart.  Ker-plunk!

After the film’s midpoint the narrative ceases to make any sense at all.  The great conspiracy we are promised turns out to be a red herring, a Jesuit priest goes loopy and does everything a Jesuit priest shouldn’t do, Carmelite nuns dabble in voodoo and then visceral horror (circa 1970s-style) takes over.  Terrific. Any intelligent spectator has a right to feel more than a touch insulted by this spectacle of incoherent gibberish.

It is only through the forceful presence of Élodie Bouchez (in arguably her darkest and most sensual portrayal too date) that the film manages to retain any vestige of credibility – although even this is tested to breaking point in the film’s excruciatingly bad last few minutes.  Even the great Gérard Depardieu cannot make his absurd character remotely convincing, although his moody contribution at least gives the film another thin veil with which to partially cover its mediocrity.

© James Travers 2004

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