Anthony Zimmer

Anthony Zimmer has disappeared with his ill-gotten riches, to change his looks and his voice with plastic surgery to escape the French customs police and a Russian mafia gang. A vacationer is selected on a train by Zimmer's girl friend, as having Zimmer's age and body build, and set up to appear to be Anthony Zimmer in order to fool Zimmer's pursuers. It works well, and the chase is on. One nuance of note: the customs police chief becomes fully aware at the end of what the viewer finds out.

A great film in all ways - superb acting, pacing, plot, scenery, and background music - all integrated in a very involving film. See this first, then see the remake (The Tourist) with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie to realize the faults of the remake. The Tourist is not all that bad, perhaps even above average, but Anthony Zimmer is much better.

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.

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.

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.

I found this movie a bit slow paced in many places, sometimes unnecessary so.

However that being said, I have noticed that the major part of the plot has already been given away in the first 20 minutes of the film. If you watch and listen carefully, you will realize who Anthony Zimmer really is. I thought this is a real let down to this movie. Too predictable.

Sofie Marceau is really very sexy in the movie, much better than what Hollywood filmed her in their movies. As usual, she portrays a woman who is coldly sexy, turning to a hot object of desire in several scenes.

The plot of the movie is relatively simple, and its length is a bit too short. There were many subplot possibilities which were not explored.

If you like a evenly-paced thriller, this is probably for you.