Une pure formalité

I watched this film captured by the presence of Roman Polanski in the credits. The result was very intriguing. Through the reminiscences of famous writer Onoff (Depardieu) and the shrewd interventions of the Inspector (Polanski) the crime is effectively solved. The dialogue is exceptional, and both men's performances are quite good. Basically this is a very interesting and intriguing film, and fortunately not pretentious. Highly recommendable.

One room. One police interrogation of a suspect. That's all we get to see for 100 minutes on end and every minute of this intelligent script is mesmerizing.

One of the best acting performances by Gerard Depardieu of his career. Terrific role by Roman Polanski as well. Highly recommended for any Gerard Depardieu or Roman Polanski fan.Gripping photography and a subtle, yet powerful direction. Gorgeous soundtrack. All these excellent technical details combined, make this movie rise to a level I dont experience often. What a fascinating thrill to watch. I have still got goosebumps, while I am writing this review.This movie is truly one of the most delicate, mesmerizing experiences I have enjoyed lately.

Any bad? No. But a warning for those who might expect an american Hollywood detective movie. It is nowhere near it, thankfully! It is incredibly slowburning, intelligent, subtle, bleak and confusing. Best suited for the avid arthouse fans of intelligent, delicate dramas.

Endnote: please choose the original French language with English subtitles, because the audio synchronization for other languages is terrible, with constant visible lags in spoken words.

Those who have seen Roman Polanski in his film "The Tenant" will not be surprised by his pitch-perfect acting in "A Pure Formality". Nor will they not exult in his masterful attention to detail that he is famous for (as when he moves a pan of water on the floor with the toe of his shoe as he stares eternally at the source of a ceiling drip).

There are a host of meditations in this film, and have no doubt that this film is pure artistic meditation. The one that concerns me most is the meditation on what constitutes identity, and I would guess that Tornatore might respond that it can be found in one's cosmic gift and calling, whatever that may be. The universal existential problem arises when we mistakenly believe that gift and calling and our very lives have everything to do with ego and all its vain pursuits.

It was a fantastic movie and it has a shocking ending. The performances was great specially Gerard Depardieu. It was one of the best mystery films after The Usual Suspects. And I think it should be in top 250 but it is not.

The direction was brilliant and you can not guess the ending. We can not forget the screen play all of It's words was amazing. All of the film is an investigation but you never feeling tired and I think the direction and screen play make it like this. You see this movie when you have an open mind because it makes some question in your mind. At last: I really enjoyed that and I gave it 10/10

One word that can sum up this movie is Fantastic!!! The thing about this movie is I wasn't lucky like a few other people over here to watch this movie without expecting anything. I almost knew everything I needed to know about this movie even before I bought the DVD. The movie was a pure cinema in every sense of the word. I expect the movie to contain a decent story, good actors, a little bit of suspense, a little comedy (not mandatory) and a classic ending. This one provided me with all of these things and more. The movie is really a manifestation of some one's mind. The acting is uniformly brilliant. I know Polanski is a decent actor and I loved him in The Tenant, but here he is just pure Master Class.Gérard Depardieu is a legend in France and in International Cinema and he shows in this movie why is that. In a short summary the movie involves a person being questioned for staying out in the woods without any identification. When it turns out to be the Great Writer Onoff who doesn't quite remember how he came to that place. How the Inspector Da Vinci(Polanski) gets out the answer forms the rest of the story. Enjoy the movie except for one scene of crude nudity from Gérard Depardieu. That was scary!!!! I rate this movie 10/10 (inspite of Gérard Depardieu's scary back!!!)