Princesses (2000)

Princesses is a French romantic film drama first released in 2000, directed by Sylvie Verheyde.  The film stars Emma de Caunes, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Karole Rocher, Jeannick Gravelines and Johan Leysen.  Our overall rating for this film is: mediocre.


An adolescent, Sophie, discovers that her father, whom she has not seen for ten years, is suspected of murdering a young woman.  She also learns that she has a half-sister, Virginie, whose up-bringing has been even more precarious than her own.  The two girls set out to find their father, but soon become embroiled in a dangerous intrigue...

Princesses is the second film by Sylvie Verheyde,  following her successful film-making debut with Un Frère.  This is a drama made in the style of a film-noir thriller which appears to start well, using sombre photography to draw the audience into a disturbing nightmare world.  The story is a little difficult to follow at first, but that is not really a problem, because the uncertainty creates a feeling of suspense which serves the film well.

But then, before the film reaches its halfway point, the whole thing seems to fall apart.  The intrigue evaporates in an instant when the plot is revealed to be no more than a tedious little melodrama.  Worse, the film loses direction, and weak dialogue and some atrocious acting quickly transforms the film into an unconvincing third rate drama.

© James Travers 2001

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