Pars vite et reviens tard (2007) - film review

Overwrought when his fiancée Camille walks out on him, police chief Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg finds himself confronted with a nightmare scenario that he is not well equipped to deal with.  It begins when a strange sign is found daubed on doors across Paris.  Then a dead body is found which is unlike any he has ever seen in his career – a corpse which appears to be disfigured by plague.   Is it possible that the Black Death of Medieval times now stalks the French capital?  If so, it seems to be highly selective in its choice of victim...

Fred Vargas’ chilling vision of a modern city threatened by an outbreak of plague is brought home in this moody but slightly manhandled adaptation of her prize-winning 2001 novel Pars vite et reviens tard.   The intricate, labyrinthine plot is the best thing about this film, which is let down by some so-so acting and Régis Wargnier’s clumsy mise-en-scène, which includes what is possibly the most inept use of slow-motion photography and montage in any film of recent years.  This is clearly not the same Régis Wargnier who wowed the critics with such films as Indochine (1992) and Est - Ouest (1999).

With its sustained aura of apocalyptic menace, Pars vite et reviens tard certainly had the potential to be a stunning thriller, but it feels like reheated leftovers, a bland imitation of someone else’s work that lacks the idiosyncratic touch of Wargnier’s previous films.  The film is well-cast but not all of the distinguished actors live up to their reputations.  José Garcia is surprisingly convincing as a no-nonsense cop who has to navigate personal and professional crises, not least of which is a colleague (Lucas Belvaux) who is convinced he has bubonic plague (the wimp).  Michel Serrault also shines in what would be his final screen appearance, making a welcome return to the darker, more ambiguous roles of his glory years.  The only other performance of note is from Nicolas Cazalé, who would subsequently find fame as the lead in Eric Guirado’s  Le Fils de l'épicier (2005).   With so much talent on both sides of the camera, you have to wonder how this film could fail to be much more than borderline mediocre.

© James Travers 2010

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