I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

This film is just plain not believable. Ms. Lewis who is one of my favorite actresses does not fit here. Her fake French is so annoying and looking for "Billy" really gets on my nerves. I would like for her at least to speak a better form of broken English to keep the plot moving. The direction is so slow and there are long periods of time with no dialogs like when Juliette is hanging from the balcony and dropping her boots to the ground.For me this is one of those films from Toronto that just does not fill the bill. A colorless City that always tries to pass for some were else. Plus how long was Mickey Rourke in the Film maybe about 10 minutes?

October 2007 Movie: "Picture Claire" - 2001 Never saw this movie before, then, one night, flipping channels on TV, there it was. On a specialty channel called "BRAVO". It caught my attention immediately and drew my interest to continue watching.Now maybe this is not the type of film your average movie goer is going to enjoy a lot ... but I really enjoyed it ... and if you like "different" or "unique" or "independent" movies - I recommend, watch it.Probably because I am Canadian and have worked and lived a couple of times in both Toronto and Montreal (but am native of neither - I actually come from a small city right in the middle of these two big cities) I have some insight into the people, places, characters, cultures and ways of these two major Canadian cities. I love to watch these "Canadian" movies whose themes involve Toronto & Montreal ... and the differences. (There was another one recently ... Bon Cop Bad Cop ... Good Cop Bad Cop ... en Anglais et aussi en Francais ... both in English and in French ...a sort of Starsky & Hutch film, one Cop from Toronto, one from Montreal ... see it! ) Tales of Two Cities ! T.O. and M.O. - love those .Back to "Picture Claire" ... Lead actress ... I would have swore she was a real Quebec girl/fille from Montreal. But I understand she's actually not! Well done! Well acted. Well played. Quebec character, dress, attitude, French, accent, slang and all. She plays the quick, smart, intuitive, Quebec girl ... with emotional intelligence. Knows a lot more than you think ... and can figure out a heck of a lot more in a second - just with a glance - just by looking at you ... ( It's a real character you know! ).Before reading all the other comments on this film, I too thought there were just too many "coincidences" to make the film actually believable ... but hey ... it's a movie... a story to thrill and entertain also ... and FATE can do some amazing things sometimes ... and stranger things have happened - I'm sure. I guess that's one of the points the film is trying to make.The other neat little things in the movie - keep you thinking and entertained. And are a good study, I'm sure, for Cinema class. Probably this is a good movie to study. Take note Drama teachers! example. The little dog and the red shoes. The split screens showing Claire's dreams, wishes, or anticipations - visions of what the future might be.I also liked the minimal dialogue. It allowed you to watch, follow, and understand, and put together the story from the images and the happenings ... not cluttered with dialogue. Keeps you thinking. It's not spoon fed to you with words.The other actors and parts ... all seemed like real people ... and well played. Made the movie seem real, believable and enjoyable, and drew you in.The themes of personal identity and image ... Claire taking on the role of the other lady ... and the "take the money and run off to some Caribbean paradise" story ... of course we're all wanting Clarie to get away to a new life. We're cheering for her.We get the impression that Claire is looking to find herself and also to find a new life. Claire is looking for something ... like we all are ... And we all want her to find these things. She becomes like the "Bad guy/girl on the run" who we all want to get away. ( sort of like Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw in "The Getaway" movie from 1972 ) Finally all the shots of Toronto .. Union Station ... downtown, Spadina Street ... all the rest ... brought back memories of that place where I once lived and worked ... T.O. ... Go visit sometime ...Yours Truly ... Mr Vanwinkles (not my real name) email: mrvanwinkles@hotmail.com ( ... and personally I thought the film was much better than most of the reviews I've read on the internet. It has a style and story much to my liking! and yes ... a possible cult following ...)

In Montreal, Claire Beaucage (Juliette Lewis) loses her belongings when her apartment burns on fire. She decides to travel to Toronto to move to her boyfriend's place, the photographer Billy Stuart (Kelly Harms). Speaking only French, she is mistakenly taken as Lily Warden (Gina Gershon), a woman that killed a smuggler in a coffee shop. The police chase Claire, who does not understand what is happening, while two sadistic criminals chases Lily, who is the second floor neighbor of Billy."Picture Claire" is a comedy of coincidences, with potential of cult-movie. The unusual screenplay has many flaws, since is supported in many coincidences, but is also very attractive. The cinematography, showing the dreams of Claire in parallel with reality, is original and great. Juliette Lewis is very convincing as a young woman in the wrong place at the wrong time that can not understand English. The joke with doors not closed recalled the reaction of Michael Moore in Canada in his "Bowling for Columbine". The sexy Gina Gershon is also great, and I liked this movie a lot. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Identidade Trocada" ("Changed Identity")

After all the bad press this film received, I was curious to watch it to see if the criticism was justified. It was. I am a Callum Keith Rennie fan and watched it mostly for him, but watching 80 minutes of eye-rolling tripe that made me yell at my TV screen was not worth it for the five minutes of (great) psychopath Rennie. Most of the fancy frame-in-frame-in-frame shots were annoying and did not add anything at all to the story. Claire was ridiculously stupid and there were plot holes in this thing you could drive a truck through. And the plot, such as it was, moved at a snail's pace. I kept wondering when something was finally going to HAPPEN already. Hated this film. A waste of celluloid.