Les traducteurs

A wealthy book publisher locks 9 translators in a bunker to work on the last opus of the series that made his fortune, written by a secretive author that almost no one has seen. As the first pages get leaked to the public, the blackmailer and the publisher engage in a battle of wits where the publisher resorts to harsher and more cruel measures.

I was intrigued by the premise of this whodunnit, but afraid it would fail to entertain. Fortunately, the movie knows when to break its own rules to breathe and explore new directions. The movie starts slow but after about 15 minutes picks up pace and never drops it. The plot has a bagful of twists to entertain you, then as soon as you think it's done there's one more, and one more, then some more for good measure. All in only 1h45min of runtime that will never let you get bored. If every twist is simple and credible enough, the overall plot strains credulity, but no more than a typical movie of the genre. Apart from Lambert Wilson, the actors lack a little in charisma, but there's a refreshing simplicity to their roles and dialogues that makes them likeable. Where the movie is weak in my opinion is how it tries to link various plot elements to the sotry told by the book, which could have worked but feels artificial because the book doesn't have a separate existence. The whole 'translating' twist was a little underused, except in a dazzling scene where unfortunately it ends up making little difference. I watched the movie twice back to back and enjoyed it both times. A solid 8/10.

I found this quite boring & slow except for the end when you found out who did what. A few smart twists make it interesting enough to continue watching through the boring parts

I almost feel sorry for this movie. I think it had such a great potential and could even be better as a mini-series. The plot is good, but I didn't like the storytelling, how they chose to unfold the story. The setting is good, the characters are interesting, and the first part of the movie was logical and near perfect. But starting somewhere in the middle the movie started to fall apart. All of a sudden, without any warning, they tell you who is the hacker. So the final twist becomes not so much a twist because there were clues dropped earlier, and now it has become obvious. I think the writers could have worked a little harder to tell the story in a more captivating way. For example, there could be more flashbacks to the characters' lives, or events in the past that led to the situation.

Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed the movie. Lambert Wilson is wonderful, as always, and a joy to watch and listen to in both French and English. Other actors are fine with me, too - except, perhaps, Sara Giraudeau who is frankly very unconvincing in her small role as the PA to a boss from hell. The soundtrack is also great, very suspenseful and spot on.

This cerebral and complex film is not the sort of movie you can dip in and out of while you're thinking of something else. The good news is that the essentials of the plot and virtually all the characters are clearly introduced up front. The other news is that it becomes hard work to sort out the teasers, false leads, and almost Aristotelian logic on the way to a wonderfully constructed conclusion. I appreciate films that manage to tie up every loose end, and this one sure did.

Apart from giving great credit to the work translators must endure, the writers managed an intricate, multi-lingual wordplay at one point that -- to me anyway -- was the highlight of the film. So why only seven stars? Because honestly this film was hard for me to follow, but I can easily understand why others might rate it higher.

If you love books, foreign languages, and mystery then this is going to be your new favourite! The movie is setup perfectly, and then one plot twist follows the other. The subtitles were a bit distracting but I loved watching such a good film in a language other than English. The plot might look far fetched at times but, it deals with an industry of billions of dollars, and when money is involved, even what the film shows shouldn't seem so unrealistic. Multiple languages are heard throughout the film, but in small edible bites so it is not tiring. I genuinely enjoyed it!