Quelques jours en septembre (2006) - film review

In the first few days of September 2001, an American spy named Elliott goes into hiding and arranges a secret meeting with three people: the French agent Irène Montano, his adopted son David and his estranged daughter Orlando.  Unbeknown to Montano, Elliott has knowledge of a plot that will soon have worldwide repercussions.  What Elliott does not know is that he is to be the target of a ruthless hired killer...

Screenwriter Santiago Amigorena makes his directorial debut with this bewildering mélange of film noir, romantic intrigue and political thriller.   It’s an ambitious film for an inexperienced director, set for the most part in Venice and with an attractive cast headed by the bankable (and seemingly ageless) Juliette Binoche.  Stylistically, the film is instantly evocative of those great French political thrillers of the 1970s, with moody nocturnal photography and a crop of sinister characters conveying an all-pervading sense of hidden menace.  Unfortunately, the film’s content isn’t quite so appetising.

Ironically, given Amigorena’s background as a writer, the film’s Achilles’ heel is its script, which is painfully lacking in realism.   The plot is a muddled (and virtually unfathomable) mess of loosely connected storylines, some of the characterisation is absurd (three of the five principal characters are natural born poets, including a psychopathic killer with a penchant for William Blake) and much of the dialogue is embarrassingly trite and unnatural.   Given that the story is set on the eve of the terrorist attacks on America on 11th September 2001, it’s surprising that more isn’t made of this, and in a far more thoughtful and intelligent way than the lame love/hate America dichotomy.

Ultimately, Quelques jours en septembre is a film with a severe crisis of identity – part slasher thriller, part romantic drama, part half-thought-through polemic on America’s relationship with the world.  Whilst some elements of the film work quite well in isolation, they just don’t come together to make a satisfying whole.  It tries to cover too much ground in too small a space and ends up looking confused, shallow and perhaps overly self-conscious – which is a shame, because some aspects (notably the acting and location photography) are very appealing.

© James Travers 2007

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