Film Review
Cédric Anger, screenwriter and former critic on the
Cahiers du cinéma, makes an
impressive directing debut with this stylish thriller-drama, a slick
variation on the classic French film noir polar with a bitter
existentialist edge to it. Anger's previous screenwriting credits
include such diverse works as Werner Schroeter's
Deux
(2002) and Xavier Beauvois'
Le Petit lieutenant (2005), and
here he scripts an intensely compelling drama revolving around a hitman
and his intended victim.
Although
Le Tueur
superficially resembles the familiar polar in its style and gangster
trappings, it is an altogether different kind of film, driven not by
the exigencies of plot but by the complexities of the two main
characters, superbly played by Gilbert Melki and Grégoire
Colin. This is more a character study than a conventional
thriller, one whose deeply unsettling mood contributes both dramatic tension
and a bleak lyricism. The film's
haunting sense of melancholia is at its most potent in the sequences
where dialogue is absent and we enter the minds of the two protagonists
by their subtle gestures and their interaction with the world around
them.
Initially, the two main characters appear to be polar opposites, one
nervous and inoffensive, the other cold and deadly. But as their
true natures become apparent, we soon realise that first impressions
can be very deceptive. Neither character is as straightforward as
he appears, and so the drama that ensues is far from predictable.
The oft-used film noir device that villains and
heroes have, ultimately, little to distinguish them is what underpins
this strange and beguiling film. Life's victims are never
easy to spot, as the film's viciously ironic ending makes clear.
Elegantly composed with a disturbing quietude,
Le Tueur offers a haunting
excursion into the darker precincts of the human soul.
Anger followed up this seductive debut piece with two further
distinctive thrillers,
L'Avocat (2011) and
La Prochaine fois je viserai le coeur (2014).
© James Travers 2010
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Film Synopsis
Léo Zimmerman is a successful businessman who is looking forward to
spending Christmas with his beloved daughter. His plans look as if
they are about to be frustrated when a suspicious-looking young man named
Dimitri Kopas shows up in his office and tries to pass himself off as a client.
Zimmerman sees through Kopas's charade straight away and realises that he
is in fact a hired killer who intends murdering him. After being stalked
by the stranger for several days, Zimmerman becomes so distressed that he
is unable to sleep. In the end, he confronts Kopas and makes him an
offer that would seem to suit them both. The businessman will agree
to let the killer fulfil his contract, providing he gives him a few days
in which to make provision for his daughter's future. As it is
the festive season, Kopas can hardly refuse, but in agreeing to the strange
proposal is he making a terrible mistake...?
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.