Le Serpent (2007)

Le Serpent is a French thriller film first released in 2007, directed by Eric Barbier.  The film is based on a novel by Ted Lewis and stars Yvan Attal, Clovis Cornillac, Pierre Richard, Simon Abkarian and Minna Haapkylä.  It has also been released under the title: The Snake.  Our overall rating for this film is: mediocre.


Vincent Mandel has it all – a successful career as a photographer, a family, a nice house and all the accessories that go with it.  But then his life suddenly begins to fall apart.  His wife Hélène has filed for divorce and is determined to take their two children with her when she moves to Germany.  Vincent’s attempt to keep his children in France is thwarted when he is charged with raping one of his models.  There then ensues a series of bizarre events which see Vincent sink deeper and deeper into the mire.  Just when things couldn’t get any worse, he runs into an old classmate, Joseph Plender, whom he has not seen for years.  At first, Plender appears willing to help Vincent but then it becomes apparent that he is not acting from benign motives.  Vincent soon realises that he is on the receiving end of a cruel and carefully planned vendetta...

Eric Barbier’s third film in fifteen years, Le Serpent is an almost perfect example of how heavy-handed direction and stylistic excess can diminish a film that has the potential to be a respectable entry in the psycho-thriller genre.  A more subtle approach, with more restrained editing and less gratuitous violence, would have made a far more effective film.  As it is, everything feels overdone and too deliberate, and watching it is a far from comfortable experience (particularly as the film is at least twenty minutes over-long).  Barbier’s previous two films, Le Brasier (1991)  and Toreros (2000), are perhaps more original, but they are just as marred by a surfeit of artistic self-indulgence.

The film’s only real attraction is its trio of lead actors, Yvan Attal, Clovis Cornillac and Pierre Richard.  Of these, surprisingly, it is Richard who excels.  Better known as a comic performer, Pierre Richard is virtually unrecognisable in what is a straight character role, possibly his most convincing dramatic performance to date.  The contributions of Attal and Corniallac are pretty well undermined by a complacent, overly contrived plot and the poor direction and editing, although Attal impresses with the realism he brings to his part.  Corniallac, by contrast, is painfully two-dimensional: he is okay as the viciously sadistic psychopath but not remotely convincing in the scenes where his character is playing Mr Nice Guy to his future victims.  

Le Serpent is watchable (if you have nothing better to do) but it is obvious that it could have been a much better film – had it been made with more restraint and if someone had taken a long hard look at the script and asked the question: is this plausible?

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