Les traducteurs

Overly and unnecessarily complex plot, which seemed to embrace implausible complexity simply for the sake of it. Implausible motivations, and artificial characters that drew no sympathy.

Welcome to the cruel world of the high-stakes international publishing business that suffocates true artistic creation for the sole purpose of profit. The Translators (original title: Les Traducteurs) is a 2019 French/Belgian production featuring a multinational cast and a slick screenplay that blends many different genres. The film is partly a typical closed-room mystery, a classic whodunit, a heist thriller, and a social commentary on the commercialization of literature in our age. The director, Régis Roinsard, who also co-authors the movie's script along with Romain Compingt and Daniel Presley, keeps the audience guessing from start to finish and has many surprises in store as the plot is filled with red herrings, twists, and third-act reversals that keep us on our toes throughout the film's runtime. The story focuses on the underappreciated job of translating literature, an endeavor often considered to be tedious and humdrum as, according to the majority of people, it doesn't require any special skill or merit. The film is dedicated to the translators around the world who work quietly and contribute to the propagation of artistic work to the masses. After the ending credits roll, the audience realizes that they have learned a bit more about this unthankful, yet vital, line of work.

The plot revolves around the forthcoming publication of the third installment of an extremely popular literary trilogy, written by Oscar Brach, a mysterious author who wishes to remain anonymous, his identity hidden from the public. Eric Angstrom, the publisher of the three novels, assembles a group of nine talented linguists from nine different countries of the world who will have to translate the 480 pages of the third volume in a month, working in total isolation from the external world. They work in a bunker beneath a French chateau and Russian armed guards are keeping an eye on them in order to prevent a possible leak of the manuscript to the public. When Angstrom receives an SMS to his mobile phone that informs him of the fact that the first 10 pages have already leaked to the internet, he will force the group into a lockdown in order to find out the guilty party.

Soon, more pages will get leaked and the unknown extortionist will ask for a substantial ransom in order not to give away the whole book. Angstrom becomes incensed and determined to solve the situation, regardless of the means he has to use and the possible consequences. The members of the group, on the other hand, become suspicious of one another and they begin to denounce possible culprits among them. The outcome is going to be tragic as some of the participants in this odd experiment will lose their lives.

The international cast gives solid performances with many celebrated thespians from all over the globe such as the Spanish Eduardo Noriega (Thesis, The Method), the stunning Russian Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace, Oblivion), the Danish Sidse Babett Knudsen (Borgen, Westworld), the Greek Manolis Mavromatakis (The Enemy Within, Uranya), the German Anna Maria Sturm (Polizeiruf 110, Good Times), and the Italian Riccardo Scamarcio (Romanzo Criminale, Three Steps Over Heaven). The film's lingua franca is French, though there are sometimes that the characters speak in their native tongue to express their overwhelming emotions about their bizarre predicament. Lambert Wilson (The Matrix Reloaded, Catwoman) is exceptional in his portrayal of the greedy, sadistic head of the publishing house, Eric Angstrom.

The Translators is a movie that endorses an unconventional, yet not entirely original, narrative structure which includes the heavy use of flashbacks and flashforwards while there is a great heist scene interjected in the middle of the film's runtime. The last part of the movie is full of twists and surprises that are plausible and make sense, leaving no unanswered questions and room for alternative interpretations of the story. To sum up, this is a recommendable picture that will definitely be appreciated by crime fiction fans and all those who enjoy the cozy mysteries of the Golden Age era of the genre.

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

"Les traducteurs" is a Mystery - Thriller movie in which we watch nine translators hired by a publisher to translate the last book of a bestselling trilogy. They all have a lot of work to do but everything change when the first ten pages of the book appear online and everyone is a suspect.

I liked this movie very much because it had a very interesting plot that was full of suspense and combined very well mystery with tension. In addition, the presence of some plot twists made the movie even more interesting. The direction which was made by Régis Roinsard, it was very good and I believe that he did an excellent job on the way he presented his main characters and also the story. The interpretations of Lambert Wilson who played as Eric Angstrom, Alex Lawther who played as Alex Goodman, Riccardo Scamarcio who played as Dario Farelli and Olga Kurylenko who played as Katerina Anisinova were very good and the combination of all those characters worked very well. To sum up, I have to admit that "Les traducteurs" was a nice surprise for me and I enjoyed it very much, I highly recommend everyone to watch it because it is very interesting and I am sure you will be surprised by it too.

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.