L'Empreinte (2008)
Directed by Safy Nebbou

Film Review

There are few forces in nature more powerful and more tenacious than the mother instinct, and director Safy Nebbou uses this as the basis for this slick, masterfully composed psychological thriller. The almost primal confrontation between two women who appear equally certain of their maternity of a little girl provides the motor for one of the darkest and creepiest French thrillers in recent years, a film that owes a great deal to Hitchcock (in both its design and its central theme of transference) and which is far more chilling than any of the slasher movies which have recently been inflicted on French cinema audiences.

This is Safy Nebbou's second feature, following his generally well-received debut film Le Cou de la giraffe (2004), and already he looks like a force to be reckoned with.  Nebbou's stylish mise-en-scène, coupled with some highly imaginative camerawork and some razor-sharp editing, gives L'Empreinte an unsettlingly claustrophobic feel of a nightmare.  Dreams and reality become indistinguishable as one woman's desire to resurrect her dead daughter turns into a destructive obsession.  The overall effect is perhaps a little marred by the cop-out denouement, which somehow feels like the wrong ending to the film, even though it is purportedly what happened in the true story on which the film is based.  Real life has much to commend it but it isn't necessarily the best screenwriter.

What makes L'Empreinte a particularly compelling film are the performances from its two lead actresses, Catherine Frot and Sandrine Bonnaire, an inspired pairing which gives the film both a visceral intensity and blistering poignancy.  Frot is still better known for her comedy work, in such films as Le Dîner de cons (1998), 7 ans de mariage (2003) and Mon petit doigt m'a dit (2005), but recently she has begun to distinguish herself with her more serious dramatic roles.  Here, as a woman who becomes consumed with the idea that she is the mother of another woman's daughter, Frot turns in her most harrowingly convincing performance to date.  Sandrine Bonnaire is no less impressive and her scenes with Frot are electrifying in their intensity.  We are reminded of Bonnaire's previous collaboration with Isabelle Huppert in Claude Chabrol's La Cérèmonie (1995), which features a similarly unsettling malignant incursion into a cosy bourgeois household.  Safy Nebbou's writing and direction are certainly very commendable but what ultimately sells this film and makes it a compulsive viewing experience are the absolutely gripping performances from two of French cinema's finest actresses.

Film Synopsis

After her husband left her, Elsa Valentin now leads a settled life in a pleasant suburb of Paris with her infant son, Thomas.  She has managed to put behind her the one great tragedy of her life, the loss of her daughter six years ago.  The phantoms of the past suddenly return to Elsa one day when she comes to collect her son from a children's birthday party.  For some reason, one girl she notices at the party, Lola, appears familiar to her.  From that moment, the young woman becomes convinced that the girl is her own daughter and is increasingly obsessed with meeting her.

Taking advantage of the fact that her son has befriended Lola's brother, Elsa manages to inveigle her way into the little girl's household.  She strikes up a friendship with the girl's mother, Claire Vigneaux, but gradually the latter becomes concerned by the stranger's evident interest in her daughter.  Elsa's behaviour appears ever more worrying as she becomes more insistent on seeing Lola, whom she is now certain is her lost child.  Claire soon has reason to believe that she is being harassed by a maniac who intends to bring nothing but harm to her family...