Customer Reviews

Anthony Zimmer (Original French Version with English Subtitles)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Beautiful film. A really enjoyable 1 1/2 hour movie with just the right balance between caper and romance elements. Not overlong and overblown like so many movies today. Sophie Marceau is incandescent. On the cusp of middle age, she looks terrific and projects both toughness and vulnerability.

A 2005 French film currently having the typical American remake and due for release in 2011, it is also akin to Johnnie Depps "The Tourist". I really enjoyed this Hitchcockian thriller, where the story is most important and the acting albeit top notch from the gorgeous Sophie Marceau and Yvan Attal, and the wonderful scenery combine to make an enjoyable film.
I can see why a lot of people have given this a negative vote, as when I say it is Hitchcockian in style, I also mean that it is rather 1950's feel as well, the leading actors use a lot a facial nuances, there is no gore (but the sound effects especially the guns are excellent) and the injuries sustained by the actors seem real enough for me.
The bad news is that you are unlikely to see it anywhere as the film is now very rare on the DVD market on both sides of the Atlantic, but if you can find it online it is well worth a watch!

Jerome Salle's Anthony Zimmer is the kind of glossy widescreen French thriller that usually gets a wider release outside its native shores, but it seems that was ruled out when a US studio picked up the remake rights: currently the only English-friendly DVD release is from Australia. It's no more than a shaggy dog story filmed with a lot of style in beautiful locations where the sun always shines and everyone travels and stays first class, but at a tight hour-and-a-half it doesn't outstay its welcome or give you too much time to think about the not-really-that-surprising final twist. The setup is certainly a good one - with international money launderer Anthony Zimmer fresh from the plastic surgeon, the only one who might be able to identify him is girlfriend Sophie Marceau. But with both the police and the Russian mafia after him he doesn't make their meeting but leaves her a message to chat up a suitable candidate on the train to Cannes to act as a decoy while he makes his getaway. Naturally, newly divorced, on-a-budget tourist Yvan Attal can't believe his luck when a beautiful woman chats him up and invites her to stay with him in her suite at the Carlton Hotel - until she pops out for an hour and the Russians pop round with silencers...

From there on it's the odd chase punctuated by the odd double-cross en route to a not that surprising but not unsatisfying finale, and it's easy to see the attraction for Hollywood: it's a goodlooking, undemanding entertainment with good performances from the leads and good enough support from Sami Frey's pursuing flic to make the potentially unintentionally comic cliché never-changes-his-expression stereotype play far more convincingly than it deserves. It even throws in a couple of nice reversals on those genre staples, the story the regular cops don't believe (they do) and the two-way mirror in an interrogation room (it isn't). No worldbeater, but it does its job well enough for an hour-and-a-half.

The only extra on Universal's Australian PAL is a stills gallery, though it does boast a good 2.35:1 widescreen transfer with English subtitles.

Great reverse psychology thriller that'll throw you for a loop. Refreshing intelligent thriller without the obligatory sex scenes, car chases and bomb blast.

Sophie Marceau excellent as the musterious film noir diva. Yvan Attal's looks perfect for the role of the naive unsuspected victim who falls for the dark mysterious woman until he decides to take the situation in his hands. Satisfing ending.

Yvan Attal's character was sexy and smart. I was thrilled with the ending. I watched it twice. The sound track is moving and emotional.

This is the French film upon which the more recent film The Tourist was apparently based. It is way better than the Depp/Jolie version ,without all the flash locations and other stuff getting in the way.Watch it and enjoy. It is clever.

Here is the story of French thriller "Anthony Zimmer." Some of you may find it a bit familiar.

On the express train traveling from Lyon to Nice, a 38-year-old tourist François Taillandier (Yvan Attal) gets romantically involved wirh a beautiful woman Chiara Manzoni (Sophie Marceau), sitting opposite him. Obviously she is interested in François, a translator on vacation, and she invites the enamored François to stay at a luxury hotel in sun-soaked Nice. Next morning, however, he wakes up to find that two men are trying to break in the room - and they have guns in their hands.

As you know, "Anthony Zimmer" (2005) is the original of "The Tourist" (2010) starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. Like the Hollywood remake "Anthony Zimmer" is a light thriller with a convoluted storyline and some romantic touches, but there are two significant differences between the two movies. One is the running time ("Anthony Zimmer" is about 89 minutes long, while "The Tourist" about 103 minutes). The other is the lack of comic elements in "Anthony Zimmer," in which no one runs in pajama on the rooftops. The film may be a thriller or a romance, but not a comedy.

"Anthony Zimmer" directed by Jérôme Salle (his debut as a feature director) benefits from effective photography, faster narrative and tighter editing. The romance between Sophie Marceau and Yvan Attal's characters are more convincing than the counterparts in "The Tourist," but not much. "Anthony Zimmer" is entertaining with a story that is skillfully told, and (for the most part) the film tactfully blends mystery and romance, but not much of the film stays with you once it is over.