Anthony Zimmer is a rich, smart gangster hunted by the formidable and feared combined forces of the French police, ex-KGB members and the Russian mafia. But he’s a slippery chap whose only weakness seems to be his sexy thirty-something girlfriend Chiara (Sophie Marceau). Like the Kaiser Soze character in Bryan Springer’s The Usual Suspects we never get to meet Zimmer, though we learn about him through Chiara. Marceau (Braveheart, The World is Not Enough) is spot on with her performance, at times reminiscent of Linda Fiorentino’s femme fatale in The Last Seduction, though she’s let down by the plot which is too straightforward. What’s more, director Jérôme Salle seems to like to show as many gratuitously naked bodies as possible (or at least scantily clad ones). Still, the cheap thrills, plus Marceau, will leave the film’s male audience captivated throughout, if only for two hours.
TF1/Studio Canal

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
November 2005 issue