ANYTHING FOR HER
France, 2008
Running Length: 96 minutes
Cast: Diane Kruger,
Vincent Lindon, Lancelot Roch, Olivier Marchal, Hammou Graia
Director: Fred Cavaye
Screenplay: Fred Cavaye,
Guillaume Lemans
Cinematography: Alain
Duplantier
Diane Kruger stars in
this French thriller as a blissfully married wife and mother whose life is
thrown into turmoil when she is wrongfully accused of murder and sentenced to
twenty years in prison. Convinced
of her innocence, her husband decides to spring her from jail.
First time director
Cavaye manages to keep his suspense set-pieces on the right side of plausible
and strong performances from Vincent Lindon and Diane Kruger make this a better
than average entry into the prison escape movie genre. Beginning the film as a
conservative, tweedy schoolteacher, Julien makes the transformation to a driven
jail-breaker look natural. Never
do we question him or his motives.
That he is clearly intelligent, and a thorough researcher makes him all
the more plausible. Rather than
making this a balls out action film, Cavaye allows the characters room to live
and breathe. There are touching
moments between Julien and his young son and tense scenes between him and his
estranged father.
Taking up a small
portion of the running time is Kruger as the imprisoned Lisa. But despite her scant screen-time, she
makes her presence felt throughout the film. After all, it is all about her.
As Julien sets his
plan in motion, earlier than he had planned to due to a twist of fate, things
move fast. Cavaye manages to
maintain a high level of tension throughout this action-packed, will he-won’t
he scenario and you will be on the edge of your seat for the entire twenty minute
sequence, impatient to find out if Julien gets away with it.
Enjoyable, exciting
and extremely well paced, this noirish thriller will satisfy and thrill even
the most jaded film-goer.
Sounds like an interesting film.
ReplyDeleteSounds good to me - I'll have to check it out. :)
ReplyDeleteVisiting via A-Z Challenge. You might like my theme - it's film/TV/Sci-fi one. Come check it out. ;)
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Hi Kate, I really like Diane Kruger, but I'm not really a fan of action movies which is why I have probably never heard of it... I'm part of co host Pam's Unconventional Alliance. Dropping in from the #atozchallenge. Good luck! Reflex Reactions
ReplyDeleteHi Kate, Nice to meet a fellow film buff. Enjoyed you post and will be back for more.Mary at Variety, the Spice of Life
ReplyDeleteHeya - thanks so much for participating in my cover reveal...and also...we're doing a similar theme for A to Z. NICE! Will be following you this month.
ReplyDeleteYou've thwarted me again. I'm not so good with international films. But if it stars Diane Kruger, that would be reason enough to watch it.
ReplyDeleteI have a funny feeling I've seen an American version, except he actually gets her out of jail and they go on the run. Probably a different concept altogether. I've seen so many over the years, they blur. :P
ReplyDeleteCool. I like that it's a movie that I haven't heard of. I'll have to put it on my to-watch list. It sounds good.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great movie. I've never heard of it, but I love Diane Kruger and always want to see more of her :)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great film.... somehow, the same sort of tone from "Kate & Leopold" comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteAlex Hurst, fantasy author in Japan. "B is for Books" is my current post.
This sounds like an interesting film, I haven't heard of it before.
ReplyDelete