Anthony Zimmer

Director Jerome Salle wanted this film to remind us Hitchcock's or Polanski's movies with the next door guy type getting caught into a web of mistaken identity. He actually tries more with a story which may have had a better chance if it decided whether it wants to play on the thriller or on the romantic movie line. Unfortunately he seems to try to do both and fails on both, because we are never sure what the director wants for us, and because the point of gravity where he takes us changes too sudden. We are left with a well acted film with Sophie Marceau and Yvan Attal leading a good team of actors, but also with a feeling of in-satisfaction because despite the good ideas the film ends by looking too short and too superficial to give us time to be thrilled or to be moved.

Not very often have I watched a thriller that entertained me as much as this one, throughout its whole duration. I don't think this film made a big splash at the box office or earned much critical acclaim, which is a shame.

In my view, its fascinating scenery, the many twists and turns, a fabulous Sophie Marceau, and not least a clever ending, make this pure entertainment to watch and would have deserved better.

The film does remind me of Hitchcock at his best.

Not all the pieces may fit together all the time, but I don't find this to be an issue with this movie. When the final credits rolled, I was still in a kind of trance smiling to myself about the clever storyline and its convincing presentation.

This is an engaging and quite clever thriller, produced, directed and acted as only the French do: stylish, cool, suave – and with a twist. Or, was it a double twist? Here's the setup: a wanted criminal, Anthony Zimmer, is being hunted by the French police who want Zimmer in jail; and by the Russian mafia who just want him dead. Zimmer, however, has recently acquired a new face via plastic surgery; so nobody knows what he looks like now.

He has a weakness, however: the femme fatale who, in this case, is Chiara (Sophie Marceau), who keeps in touch with Zimmer via classified messages in the Herald-Tribune. As his girl friend, she's instructed by letter, from Zimmer, to board a train and pick the man who most closely resembles Zimmer's size and shape – and then play up to him as though he was in fact Anthony Zimmer. Why? Because Zimmer wants an available sap to act as stand-in when the mafia make their hit...

Enter poor Francois Taillandier (Yvan Attal), minding his own business on the train when the gorgeous Chiara sets down opposite and, very adroitly, gets Francois to join her in her travels to the Cote d'Azur and a luxurious holiday… he thinks. Francois figures he's maybe in heaven for the first day, a wonderful dinner, followed by the potential for real romance.

And then, the sky falls in...

In short order, Francois is running for his life (almost like Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man [1976] and for similar reasons) as the mafia try twice to kill him, Chiara reveals that she set him up, the mafia keep on trying to make a hit on him, the police try to help him, and Zimmer's still pulling the strings it seems. Things are closing in on Francois, and it seems like only a matter of time before he takes a hit.

Not everything is as it seems, however...

To say more would spoil this film for you. Suffice to say that, like Hitchcock and others before, the denouement between the police, the mafia and the elusive Zimmer is very satisfying, if somewhat contrived, perhaps.

The ending, however, does raise some interesting questions and provides no firm answers, an aspect I particularly like – because that allows me to formulate the complete end according to my own inclination. Besides, whenever you read about murder and mayhem in real life, you never get the full story anyway. Right?

The cinematography is exquisite on the French coastline, the sound track is good, the acting is...oh, who cares...I was too busy looking at Sophie Marceau anyway. Okay – the acting was adequate, but not spectacular.

See this one. You won't regret the ninety minutes.

In Paris, the international police force and the Russian mafia are chasing Anthony Zimmer, an intelligent man responsible for laundry of dirty money in France. Zimmer was submitted to a plastic surgery, and his new face and voice are completely unknown. The only means to reach Zimmer is through his beloved mistress Chiara (Sophie Marceau), who is under surveillance of the police and the mobsters. While traveling by train to the country nearby Nice, the common man François Taillandier (Yvan Attal), who has the same body shape of Zimmer, is select by Chiara as if he were Zimmer and used as a bait to lure those that are pursuing her. When Taillandier is chased by the professional Russian killers, he runs the French police when the real situation begins to be disclosed to him.

"Anthony Zimmer" is a great thriller, with a situation that recalls Hitchcock's classic "North By Northwest", i.e., a man mistaken for another and pursued by criminals. The attractive story has many twists, a nice cast with the gorgeous Sophie Marceau and the efficient Yvan Attal in the lead roles. The beautiful locations in France is an amazing tour in this wonderful country. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Anthony Zimmer A Caçada" ("Anthony Zimmer The Hunting")

There are some movies you watch to learn something, and some you watch to be entertained, and some you watch for both purposes.

This is a pure entertainment movie, and I liked it a lot. The most important things in a movie like this are to have a plot that twists and turns but remains at least semi-plausible, to have a reasonably attractive hero, a super-sexy femme fatale and appropriately menacing villains, and above all to keep up the pace no matter what. Anthony Zimmer does all of these things rather well. Throw in the bonus of lots of the high life -- the mountain-top super-house, the suite at the Carlton in Nice and all the rest -- and the extra bonus of a happy ending (I don't think that's a spoiler) and you make a very enjoyable evening out.

Don't bother trying to work out later how all the bits fitted together. Some of them don't fit all that well, but then they never do in films like this, and it's not the point. They fit together well enough while you're watching it.

I saw this at the annual festival of French films put on by the Alliance Française in Melbourne, Australia. It opened the Festival, and later was shown again at a multiplex. The later showing was originally supposed to be in one 250-seat cinema, but demand was so great that it eventually was shown in three 250-seaters simultaneously, all of which were completely full. We all went home happy.