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The Lost Son (1999)

All the elements are here for a classic noir-inspired investigation movie where no one is to be trusted and our leading man is a likable, steady, world weary paradigm. If you are familiar with "The Big Sleep" with Bogart and crew, you might actually get a sense of what this movie is trying to do. Not only does the plot begin in a similar way, with a rich family saying one of their members (the son) is missing and with the daughter being a steamy and somewhat unreliable secondary force (played by Nastassja Kinski), but then the rest of the movie proceeds to get increasingly confusing.

In "The Big Sleep" this is almost a positive thing, making it fast, visual, and experiential (meaning you get sucked into the world and can't stop looking and trying to keep up). Here, in "The Lost Son," it isn't what anyone would call fast, which hurts it because the complexity builds and the suspicions fester with lots of lulls, either whole short scenes that don't seem quite necessary or with an editing that makes every little cut one or two seconds too long. Which adds up to a kind of pace some people might like, a loitering and inhabiting this strange little nether world the movie creates. But for me it just made me fuzz out a little.

The leading detective, Xavier Lombard, is played by the really compelling French actor, Daniel Auteuil. He carries the movie even through it's pauses. Besides Kinski, whose role is small (and thankfully, really--she doesn't really "act" so much as say her lines), there is a second male lead, the Irish actor Ciaran Hinds, who is quite good. (He had a terrific role in the peculiar and enjoyable "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.") And the filming is rather nice, with a huge range of scenes and moods, held together not only by the camera-work, but the solid directing by Chris Menges.

There will be an odd feel to this film for some American viewers, because it's an increasingly common hybrid of French and British filmmaking--language, crew, cast, and locations all spread out from one side of the Channel to the other. It's nicely European, but less of that familiar "British" film that many people know (or know without knowing they know it, looking vaguely like Hollywood). In short, this has a slightly fresh look. It does not however feel as new or odd or wonderful as some of the detective crime films coming out of, say, Scandinavia, among the European types.

This matters only in that half of the film is its atmosphere. The plot and some of the core acting could use a bolstering and maybe even a sense of necessity at times (the movie just keeps going through its attractive paces), but in all, it might even be a film you'd enjoy more the second time. Which says a lot.

Daniel Auteuil is the lead actor of this film and successfully carries the entire movie. Unfortunately, Nastassja Kinski, billed second, does not receive much screen time and probably could have mailed in her performance because it wasn't very demanding of her considerable skills. As another reviewer wrote: a total waste of her talent. I would suspect that she got the billing to help sell the movie and that was the only reason that I watched it. There is a very secondary role played by Billie Whitelaw, a British actress from the 1960's that I remembered from the Terry-Thomas movie, Make Mine Mink. The movie is gripping, if one buys into it, and the tension is palpable and never lets one go.

I always give movies higher grades when after having seen them I realize how long they were. This one might be too shallow to really captivate the audience, but was not in any case boring or banal. The acting is pretty solid and compensate for the lack of cohesion between the central theme and the path of development of both storyline and characters. It tries to be dark like some other typical European thrillers and it achieves the effect most of the time. Unfortunately it is too predictable and does not leave anything to the imagination. Still, with very few movies dealing with this uncomfortable topic for filmmakers, it is nice to see a movie such as this being out there for people to see.

This film is just too painful to watch, save for Daniel Auteuil who held his own in a sea of bad script, bad direction and bad editing. The story is too convoluted, the characters are not in the least interesting except for the 'gumshoe', the acting thoroughly mediocre, and this is unfortunate given that there are some fine actors (women included) in the cast. What happened exactly to the whole project?

A French private investigator with a shady past is engaged to find the missing son of a wealthy Jewish family. Our hero gets the job because his ex partner (he was a Police Officer in Paris before some bust went bad) is now married to the daughter in the family.

The trail quickly leads to a white slavery ring dealing in children and thereafter it becomes pretty much standard private detective fare. If illegal drugs were substituted as a plot element instead of the exploited children this would be just another average movie, but as it was, I felt that the filmmakers were hoping some prurient interest in these children and their predicament would make this film somehow more interesting. I hope not as it would mean that the film-makers (as well as the `bad guys' in this film) are exploiting the children.

It is interesting that "8MM," with a plot so similar, came out the same year. I found this film more interesting and believable and far less dark and stomach-turning. It is well-filmed and acted with some interesting locations. The tension is well-metered. I enjoyed the colorfulness of the filming. The cosmopolitan/European flavor lends a great deal. I enjoyed the music as well. I would see this film again with a friend.

Daniel Auteuil has so often blessed us with his shrewd, canny and ultimately modern version of what a typically French man is like today. Not the guachely bombastic Depardieu or the suavity of the leading men of the New Wave era.

Unfortunately, Xavier (Auteuil), playing a private eye doesn't really fit into any particular type and neither the script nor he, is individual enough to make him stand out. At least we had Morse, or Wallander to make us want to watch it, when it ran a little slow.

The Lost Son, to my mind, plays more like a TV crime drama; gritty, topical but covering too much ground, and a cast with too much variety for the script to flesh out their characters. There's been a fair few French thrillers recently (though this was released 11 years ago) that seem to be basic thrillers.

The story is wholesome enough, even if the subject of it isn't and is told in a workmanlike fashion. As the film ended, I couldn't help thinking that as a taster, some inkling of the outcome should be in the opening scene and then it all be told in flashback. As it is, the unfolding is quite slow and laborious, especially for a modern audience.

Daniel Auteil gives a commanding performance as a French private investigator working in London following self imposed exile from Paris following the murder of his family. Making ends meet through a combination of blackmail of those involved in extra marital affairs and fees from their partners, Auteil is a weary character with little joy or passion in life, with the exception of football, and his friendship with a fellow French exile, Nathalie a high class prostitute. However when he takes on a case looking for the missing son of a wealthy industrialist, he finds himself embroiled in the sordid world of the child sex trade. A gripping story with good performances all round, especially from Auteil, this film tackles a taboo subject in a sensitive yet realistic fashion. Auteil's unorthodox methods to secure information should fill an audience with revulsion, yet in this situation, they seem entirely appropriate. Excellent if at times uncomfortable viewing.

In the 1980s, a trans-national consortium of broadcasters got together to make 'Chateauvallon', a "Eurosoap"; but the drama always seemed clunky and constructed around the need to explain the presence of the cosmopolitan cast. There's a similar flavour to 'The Lost Son', a London-set drama in which one can hear just about every accent except Cockney: it's strange, when so many foreigners speak English so well, that the characters in this film all speak it so badly. As a thriller, 'The Lost Son' is predictable and shallow, eschewing some measure of Hollywood slickness but without anything much to put in its place. Two performances stand out: Marianne Dennicourt is gorgeous, but the late Katrin Cartlidge steals the show, her role is small but her performance flashes with an electric truthfulness sadly absent elsewhere in this film.

I just watched this film on DVD, and sought it out because I love Daniel Auteil's acting.

This film felt very French to me in its cinematography and overall styling, although largely London based, and shot mainly in English.

The acting throughout was excellent, perhaps with the exception of Ciaran Hinds' Brazilian/American/Irish accent! Ciaran plays the lost son's brother in law, who brings Lombard, the French private detective living in London, in to try to solve the case of the disappearance.

The film does deal with a very sensitive subject, but I felt it did so sensitively, showing how an empire can be brought down by one man, if he feels strongly enough to sacrifice everything he has.

There are some very violent scenes, and they are wholly central to the script, highlighting how low Lombard's character, is brought by his passion and anger at what horrors he has uncovered in a paedophile ring, involved in the disappearance of the lost son. Lombard makes moral decisions throughout the film that are understandable and I feel that this is a very powerful film.

The late Katrin Cartlidge puts in a very strong performance, supporting Lombard's character in his ultimate revenge plot. Lombard's "tart with a heart" best friend, Marianne Denicourt, is excellent in a stunning bitter-sweet role, and Billie Whitelaw is fabulous as the stern, businesslike matriarch, whose lost son is being sought by Lombard, and who also comes to terms with tragic loss, as Lombard also must. Auteuil, as always, is credible, beautiful and gives a very moving performance. Although it took me a few minutes to get over his English "voice"!

In my opinion, this must be one of the best international, cross-over, thrillers in recent years.

Saw this film late night on cable. The story really draws you in. Enjoyable tense drama with a disturbing subject matter. Daniel Auteuil does a very believable job as the private investigator caught up in a case deeper and darker than he expected. A tad predictable at the end but over all a good film.

Firstly, I quite enjoyed The Lost Son. I have never seen any of the films that Daniel Auteuil had been in before, so I did not go in with any preconceptions.

He was pretty good, despite his English being a bit hard to understand on occasion. It was nice to have a mix between his English and his native French when he spoke to friends from his homeland.

The story itself is a bit convoluted, but that really doesnt matter. It changes focus half way through and really is not about finding "The Lost Son", but really about his own personal revenge against the vile people who deal in the child sex industry.

I enjoyed the music by Goran Bregovic a lot, and am going to track down more of his work.

A solid 8 out of 10.

For Daniel Auteuil, `Queen Margot' was much better. For Nastassja Kinski, `Paris, Texas' was much better. The biggest disappointments were from Chris Menges (`CrissCross' and `A World Apart' cannot even be compared with this one), and Goran Bregovic for use of a version of the same musical theme from `Queen Margot' for this movie (Attention to the end of the film). If this was an American pop movie, I would not feel surprised at all; but for a European film with more independent actors and director, a similar common approach about child abuse with no original insight is very simple-minded and disappointing. There are those bad guys who kidnap and sell the underage people. There are those poor children who hate people selling them and wait to be saved by someone. And finally, there is that big hero who kills all the bad guys and saves these poor children from bad guys. Every character is shown in simple black and white terms: the good versus the evil. Plus, from the very beginning, I could understand how the story would end. Is this the end of the history of child sexual abuse? I believe that the difficult issue of child molestation and paedophilia is much more complex than how it is portrayed in this not very original movie. I think this movie was not disturbing, but very disappointing.

To know that these type of child sex operations exist and should be put down. You have to look away at times because it is very effective in suggesting what is taking place. To make us aware of such acts has to be the only reason to make this film. Any other reason would be a foolish perverted act.

The film is not fun nor is it that good but it has some moments of suspense and we enjoy the bad guys getting what they deserve. The child urinating was a bit over the top. Auteuil wears a weary expression. His character is not that exciting but he grows on you somewhat. The rest of the actors seem awkward and once again Nastassja Kinski was wasted.

Films like this leave me feeling like the end is near for us all.

I really, really didn't expect this type of a film outside of America. How anyone can take the subject of sexually abusing children and turn it into a "thriller" is just sick. Auteuil (whom I had previously admired) going around like some sort of child-saving Rambo was ignorant and insulting to all the children being sexually exploited around the world.

What's doubly depressing is that the stunning and ground-breaking film "Happiness" came out the year BEFORE this film. Menges and his cohorts should be ashamed of themselves. It's admirable to read some of the comments by the more intelligent viewers out there. They were able to see the shoddy and ridiculous handling of this topic. Those of you who think this is great cinema display a disgusting amount of ignorance and you need to watch "Happiness" to open your minds to the true horrors of pedophilia.

Do you think your child is more likely to be kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery or be molested by a neighbor, teacher, friend or even a relative? Hmm...I wonder. If they are going to make a film about international child slavery of whatever kind they owe it to everyone to make it realistic and emotionally involving instead of this button-pushing crap. 1/10

Violence, abuse, psychological drama, and sexual predation are real, and they're portrayed shockingly here, as is appropriate. Be warned. It makes you want to become an activist or a vigilante. Where was the law? Where were the other tradtional protectors? Can it ever be prevented and will it ever end?

In The Lost Son, a private eye searching for a missing man stumbles upon a child prostitution ring. This film incorporates all of the worst stereotypes you could imagine in a worst-case scenario that exists only in the minds of Hollywood, the press and AG John Asscrap. If you get a chance to see this, you'd be better off getting lost yourself.

Auteuil is magnificent as the French loner who has somehow become a lost soul among the shadows of London's West End. The private detective, who discovers the cracks in his own life though an investigation that leads him through the seedy underworld of the child prostitution trade, takes us through the shoking stages of his discovery with much suspense. One of the best modern detective stories to have been filmed in London for many years and a film that deserves much better attention than it got when first released.

I like to think that I have time for a film about a guy whom, whilst on the verge of busting a paedophilia ring, is so into his sports that just prior to undertaking such a daring mission he takes time to watch live coverage of an FA Cup football match on his hotel room's television set. So many thrillers are indebted to the nullified routine and agonised spectacle of it all that they may as well be played out by robots. The films forget that human-beings, made up of flesh and blood, are at the core of any film; human's with thoughts, feelings and, in the case of The Lost Son, interests and hobbies. Amongst other things, this guy's hobby is following football, and he takes most chances he gets out of his busy schedule to enforce such a thing. Alas, I didn't eventually come to have an awful lot of time for The Lost Son; the film an investigative drama in the mould of those old private eye stories which sadly mutates away from its fun and engaging beginning and into that of an espionage-come-international thriller: where it starts as Chandler does modern day multiethnic London, it ends up phoned in dramatics involving twists and whatnot that we find it difficult to take to.

Daniel Auteuil plays Xavier Lombard, a private investigator who's left France to live in London; a man specialising in surveillance and detection for clients whom want someone found or watched. We garner he speaks English and Italian on top of his native language, and eventually wonder how a nice guy gets mixed up in such a racket – the early scenes establishing his character doing a job which sees him keep tabs on a some sleazy infidelities, before approaching the guilty party to warn them their partner's onto them. "I've just saved your marriage" he tells them, without dropping them in it post-warning. Lombard, despite smoking, enjoys the physicality of life; he plays football, badly, and gets knocked about by his English opponents (revenge comes at home when he places a 'shipwrekced' submarine sporting the Union Jack at the bottom of his fish tank) and is persistently out-jogged when out jogging. A fairly popular guy, his one other friend is a local call-girl named Natalie (Denicourt) and she's responsible for the film's best line when she notices one of her earlier male clients down the row at a nice restaurant they're dining at. "I think you just ruined his evening...." quips Lombard; "Ah yes....", she replies, "....but earlier on I made his day".

It is the Spitz family whom come to Lombard with a job possessing the capacity to hurtle him down a grossly different route; his eventual uncovering of a child trafficking organisation the forcing of him into confronting, indeed repenting, for his inability to successfully save his own son whom died in a car wreck years ago. But that comes later, much later; the decent parts of the film arriving first when it is revealed Leon, a family member to that of the Spitz's, is missing and Lombard is dutifully called to find him again. This leads him onto a trek through London and eventually to Mexico, by way of Suffolk, of course, after some decent cause and effect early on that leads him to a rather sordid place more broadly linked to paedophilia that I did not expect the film to go.

I like to think that had The Lost Son been made fifty or so years prior to its actual production date, it might have started with an establishing shot of a piece of city iconography before cutting closer, and closer still, to a small building plus-office-inside that's actually situated on a studio back-lot. Within this office you would find the wily investigative lead with his name printed on the glass section of his door and the neighbouring buildings, plus their exterior, vaguely on show through the window which he always sits with his back toward. Perhaps the guy would have a bit of a drinking problem, something deeply affecting in the past driving him to such a place, but he'd almost always be as just cynical as he is good at going about his business – drinking problems rarely stopped these people succeeding.

Chris Menges' film is not a picture of decades ago, it is a picture of near-enough now; times have changed and the lead in The Lost Son is allowed a tragic back-story, but this does not lead to a drinking problem - on the contrary, he is fit and athletic; he is allowed to have people meet with him and ask him to find item "x", but must do so in a large suite to a luxury hotel. Change can be good fun; hybridisation and post-modernity are fine, in moderation, whilst I'm not against the developing of ground genres if it means shifting film noir into an era of "neo" noir, but by this point, I wished the film had placed these proverbial cards on the table nearer the beginning and just given our guy a drinking habit. It is during the early segments that we enjoy the film the most; the first acts then descending into hogwash of the most mundane sort as nearer the end as he zip off abroad sand the film bolts from its genre foundations stable to head for the big, wide world; a sub-Licence to Kill espionage thriller no where near making use of its ground substance that 2002's Dirty Pretty Things would later go on to explore tautly and effectively in its depiction of a sordid, multi-racial base of operations in an affluent part of England's capital city. There are workmanlike traits about The Lost Son, and a good lead performance, but we dislike and find the shattering of his world just as unpleasurable as he eventually does.