La prochaine fois je viserai le coeur

It's winter 1978. French national police gendarme officer Franck Neuhart is a serial killer. He runs down Alice with his car and shots her three times. She survives and Franck writes in a letter to the police vowing "Next Time I'll Aim for the Heart". He starts hunting for young female hitchhikers.

There is a missed opportunity. Otherwise, this is a solid character study of a serial killer. Guillaume Canet plays it like a calm, nice guy. He's not out of control other than the killings. I like that he's messy killer. It's not another one of those precise serial killer TV shows. There is a horror to how normal Franck seems to be until he's alone with the girls. The missed opportunity is the lack of mystery. It could have kept the killer's identity a secret until a surprise midway reveal. Without that mystery, there is a lack of tension early in the movie. It takes a little while for the story to pick up steam. This is a good performance although the movie could have been more exciting.

This French serial killer movie is based on fact but an intertitle at the start tells us that it is also a work of 'imagination'. It's the kind of film the Americans do better but it has a clammy quality nevertheless and revealing the killer in the opening minutes actually adds to the tension and it's well acted and it's well directed by Cedric Anger. For reasons that will become clear very early on it concentrates very much on the police investigation while at the same time giving us a good, detailed psychological portrait of the killer. Unfortunately the film doesn't appear to have had much of a distribution so it's very possible it passed you by.

Original French title for this film is "La prochaine fois je viserai le coeur". It is based upon the real events that took place in 1978 - 79 in Oise County in France. A serial killer just starts killing young women and dumping their bodies. He then sends taunting letters to both the Police and their Gendarme cousins (separate departments). That is when the hunt is on. We know from pretty early on who the culprit is and so this is more of an examination of who this man was and what were his motives as well as a recreation of what took place.

The film plays out in a linear fashion with no back story and the makers have said they have had to use a lot of imagination and even supposition to fill those blanks in. So it is a work of fiction. Guillaume Canet ('Tell No-one') as the exemplar Gendarme with sociological issues is both chilling and convincing. The period detail is rather good but the eagle eyed amongst you will spot the same cars being used in different scenes (keep an eye out for a Triumph Herald) and as plot goes this does not hang about. As all thrillers need to be it is fast paced, there is an air of tension and the violence is both effective and at the same time done in an understated way.

All in all a very good French film - the subs could have been better - but that is generally the case these days. That said even at 111 minutes this felt like a much shorter film and as such it is one I would recommend.

cold, dark, precise. portrait of a serial killer using details and suggestion. a splendid role of Guillaume Canet. and a lot of questions. because it is not exactly adaptation of a case. but picture of society. because it is not presents motifs or excuses , not gives an anti-hero, not use drops of romanticism. it is only a cold image about a man and his crimes. Ana Girardot is a nice surprise. inspired option for remind another kind of Sonia from Crime and Punishment. the images, the dialogs, the story. nothing as part of a classic crime. only as support of reflexion. about universe as puzzle from Ionesco's small crumbs from his plays.

This french film about a serial killer manages to take the viewer inside his disturbed and tormented mind. It really is shocking to watch, and observe his tragic life, and the horrible things he does. The film is based on true events, and the film captures the environment the events took place in a very good way. The film is made in a credible manner. All though we get to know the killer well, it is impossible to predict what he will do. This makes the film nerve wracking to watch.

The casting is excellent by the way. Strong and convincingly performances.

This film is one of the best I have seen of french films.