| Anything For Her | |
 A middle-class French family comprising Julien (Vincent Lindon), his wife Lisa (Diane Kruger) and their young son Oscar is torn asunder by the sudden arrest of Lisa on suspicion of the murder of her boss. Having just had a blazing row with her, and being seen rinsing blood from her coat, she is naturally the prime suspect. But she maintains her innocence and Julien, desperately in love with her, never doubts. He fights through all of the legal channels with every resource available to him but finally he must concede defeat: at least at the hands of conventional justice.What does this quizzical last sentence mean? It means that middle-class suburbanite, father, husband, and secondary-school teacher Julien is about to plan an audacious prison break in a last-ditch effort to reunite his fractured family. It's an interesting idea, shunning the glossy Hollywood hero for an everyman in order to maximise audience identification, and writer director Fred Cavayé made a great decision in signing up Vincent Lindon for the role of Julien. His obsessive pursuit of his wife's freedom comes across perfectly but, more importantly, switches seamlessly with the necessary scenes of the everyday life which he must maintain. And it's certainly no mean feat to sit in a park brooding over your young son's wellbeing, deflect the affections of a nearby single mother and then raid a drug dealing den for fund to pay for the means to flee the country after breaking your wife out of prison. A worse choice, however, was Diane Kruger as Lisa. This is not a reflection on her acting talents though. Her shock at her arrest and gradual crumbling under the pressures of her imprisonment are conveyed perfectly well. The problem is that she seems to have been chosen primarily for her looks. Early scenes between Lisa and Julien are focussed on their mutual attraction, and Julien seems to constantly observe her more with lust than love. Cavayé makes very little effort to show us the strong bond that supposedly exists between the couple, and there is little screen time together for the actors to find any chemistry. This is really detrimental to the believability of the plot, after all it's one thing to go crazy for your soulmate (if you believe in that sort of thing) and quite another to do so for a long-term sexual partner. Equally frustrating was some of the planning behind the escape. Julien makes some decisions which are pretty implausible, and a few schoolboy errors are cringeworthy. Likewise there is an almost laughable plot device explaining where he learns the skills he needs from. But these flaws are not terminal, and Cavayé makes up for these small annoyances by executing the crucial scenes on which the whole endeavour hangs with a real flair for the dramatic. The build-up to the escape and the undertaking itself are riddled with tense moments that will have your stomach in knots, and the few actions sequences it incorporates are genuinely exciting. A great thriller, a passable drama, and a set-up that deviates from the norm all add up to something that, although not spectacular, is well worth watching for a fun weekend movie. Rating: *** Starring: Vincent Lindon, Diane Kruger, Lancelot Roch Director: Fred Cavayé Release date: 5th June 2009 Run time: 96 mins Language: French with English subtitles Certificate: 15 |
