Anthony Zimmer

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.

In Paris, the international police force and the Russian mafia are chasing Anthony Zimmer, an intelligent man responsible for laundry of dirty money in France. Zimmer was submitted to a plastic surgery, and his new face and voice are completely unknown. The only means to reach Zimmer is through his beloved mistress Chiara (Sophie Marceau), who is under surveillance of the police and the mobsters. While traveling by train to the country nearby Nice, the common man François Taillandier (Yvan Attal), who has the same body shape of Zimmer, is select by Chiara as if he were Zimmer and used as a bait to lure those that are pursuing her. When Taillandier is chased by the professional Russian killers, he runs the French police when the real situation begins to be disclosed to him.

"Anthony Zimmer" is a great thriller, with a situation that recalls Hitchcock's classic "North By Northwest", i.e., a man mistaken for another and pursued by criminals. The attractive story has many twists, a nice cast with the gorgeous Sophie Marceau and the efficient Yvan Attal in the lead roles. The beautiful locations in France is an amazing tour in this wonderful country. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Anthony Zimmer A Caçada" ("Anthony Zimmer The Hunting")

First I have to confess Alfred Hitchcock is not my favorite filmmaker - perhaps partly due to the somewhat clunky exposition he sometimes used but there are elements of Anthony Zimmer which I enjoyed and which recalled Hitchcock at his best. As so many have said before me Sophie Marceau is very,very good in Anthony Zimmer but , for me, Yvan Attal was the standout. I have liked his somewhat deadpan style since "Les Patriots" (still one of my favorite thrillers) and here, as the 'ordinary' guy supposedly caught up in things beyond his knowledge he plays a much more realistic Cary Grant type than you would usually see in a Hitchcock movie. Sure, you can tell pretty quickly he's not really who he seems to be but then how long did it take you to figure that Grant wasn't all he seemed in "North By Northwest". That's part of the fun of films like Anthony Zimmer. I've seen "Zimmer" twice and I'll be more than happy to watch it again.

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.

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.