The Lost Son (1999) - film review

Xavier Lombard, an impoverished private detective living alone in London, is hired by a wealthy couple to trace their missing son, Leon.  Xavier’s investigations lead him to Felixstowe where he meets Leon’s girlfriend, Emily.  She tells him that Leon was himself on the trail of child prostitution merchants before he went missing.  Through a close friend, a prostitute who is able to infiltrate the criminal class, Xavier manages to contact those supplying the child prostitutes.  He is not prepared for the sickening brutality and danger his investigation exposes him to...

The fourth film from award-winning cinematographer Chris Menges is a powerful film noir thriller which confronts head-on the most appalling criminal trade of our time, the trafficking of child sex.  The film does not shirk the brutality which lies behind this abominable practice, and it uses extreme violence willingly to make its point, but not gratuitously.  This is not an entertaining film; it is far too hard edged and realistic to be regarded as a pleasurable cinematic experience.  It is, however, unmistakably a compelling piece of drama, a film that involves its viewer from the start and informs, rather than manipulates, his or her emotions.

The film stars the popular French actor Daniel Auteuil.  His first film English language film, Auteuil copes with the transition from French cinema very well, and his character looks suspiciously as if it were written exclusively for him.  In the 1990s, Auteuil established himself as a high-calibre actor in over a score of successful French language films, including Claude Berri’s Jean de Florette, Claude Sautet’s Un coeur en hiver, and Jaco van Dormael’s Le Huitième jour.  Auteuil excels in the kind of role where he is an outcast or luckless loser, bringing great sensitivity and humanity to his performances.  This makes him ideal for his part in The Lost Son, playing the failed ex-cop whose humanity drives him to undertake a crusade against what is, for him, the most abominable of crimes.

As an example of hard-hitting British cinema, The Lost Son has much to commend it.   What lets it down is the naiveté of its plot, that a single man can take on single-handedly an entire child prostitution syndicate.  An awful lot of drama is crammed into a very short space of time and the overall impression is far from convincing.  This does not, however, undermine the film’s central message, that certain crimes are just too awful to walk away from.

© James Travers 2000

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