Product Details

• Actors: Frédéric Quiring, Faye Gatteau, Emmanuel Morozof, Brigitte Roüan, François Cluzet
• Directors: Agnieszka Holland
• Format: Color, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: French
• Subtitles: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: January 17, 1995
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303023045
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,693 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #44 in	Video > Art House & International > European Cinema > France > Drama
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Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

In the heart of the French countryside, a young boy disappears without a trace. Six years later, he-or someone claiming to be him-reappears in a Paris police station, and is reunited with his family. Agnieszka Holland's film is, we are told, "inspired by true events," but "inspired" is pitching it a little strong. As with her last work, "Europa Europa," Holland has cooked up a great plot, then thrown it away. After a taut first half-hour the suspense slackens off; Holland loses her sense of timing, veering between the hasty and the sluggish. Whenever a good idea comes up, it gets overplayed: a startling flashback of the young Olivier on a garden swing, say, goes on twice too long. (Zbigniew Preisner's score is similarly puffed up, out of all proportion to the scale of events.) The movie flickers with creepy suggestions-a dash of incest, a smattering of occult powers-but they never cohere. It's up to Brigitte Roüan, playing the boy's mother, to hold it all together as best she can. It's an angry, immoderate performance-there's an echo of Susan Sarandon in both her looks and her manner-and one that lends drive to a carelessly told tale. The ending is plain silly; Roüan, for one, deserves better. In French -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous French film and based on true events, June 11, 2003

By	"jonathon66" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This is one of the best French films I've seen, if not one of the best overall. I first saw it several years ago, like 5 yrears ago, and reviewed it again for this review. I remembered the plot twist, so that kinda spoiled it this time. But the first time around it was great and very convincing (and great a second time too.) I remember thinking, is this all really true?--did it happen this way? The older Olivier is very convincing and how did he do it? The film doesn't really offer any explanation. He was also a very adorable character and seductive. The movie also evokes many different emotions based on the situations that happen (I don't want to give away too much info for those reading this review who haven't seen it--don't want to ruin the experience.) Or emotions are evoked from what you also perceive to be happening at the time, from joy, humor, repulsion, outrage, etc. I mean the subject manner covers a lot of territory, though subtely, all relating to the main character, Olivier. Like for instance the relationship between Olivier and his sister....I mean you think what's he doing, but you kinda know otherwise...It is a very touching film that will make you think and feel for the character and the real life one. And since this film was "inspired by real events" as sited in the opening screens, I was left wondering what happened after the ending with the teenaged "Olivier" and his family. Watch it, it's worth your time.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars little red ridinghood's disfunctional family, May 19, 2000

By	Kate C. (Lansing, MI USA) - See all my reviews

i don't believe that bad french films exist, and this is the best example. the movie plays on our fear of abandonment and the need for closure in our lives. the pastoral setting of the film barely veils the disfunctions that exist with the main characters. without even the mystery of whether or not the street urchin is the missing link to this family that fell apart after little Olivier disappeared nine years ago, the story is both beautiful and haunting to watch. the characters in an of themselves could have been enough to keep the story moving: the neurotic and obsessive mother, the father who leaves when things get too hard and the daughter who is caught in the middle as she is always idly pushed aside. The ending has a great twist and the first time i saw it i screamed. definately worth catching.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When's this coming out on DVD?, July 13, 2004

By	maxbrod (ICN-NRT-SFO-JFK) - See all my reviews

Saw this film a few years ago. Haunting, moving, unforgettable. Achieves a perfect modulation of complex emotions and motivations among the characters. Though it's not a plot-driven film in the conventional sense, I will not reveal too much of it, except to say that the film plays ingeniously on our fascination with the idea of the doppelganger. For me, this film shares with Memento, the Christopher Nolan film, a deep interest in the ways in which we will persuade ourselves to believe in something that will enable us to go on in the face of an unbearable loss.