the audience applauded

So much average

Fresh and Exciting

A Masterpiece!

Someone frames our poor little girl from Montreal, and pulls off a tremendous caper by getting her to 'switch' her PQ apartment for a trendy flat in Paris. Paris cops show up and detect a body. Problems begin, including identity theft (ramped up on the Richter scale).A thrill a moment, and excellent hand-held camera work (shot in 35 days by 2 guys with hand-helds, reportedly) during numerous chase scenes. Sadly, our innocent heroine commits several felonies while fleeing and trying to prove her innocence: if O.J. is in jail for life for storming a trophy convention, while armed, just to retrieve his own property, how much time would our PQ girl get if she had her 'on-the-run' misadventure in the good old USA?I mean - Harrison Ford escapes custody in the Fugitive, but he is careful to avoid committing other serious crimes while on the run (he even saves a couple of lives) right? Our heroine has to commit so many serious crimes to get through this thing, I was thinking she might have been better to confess to the murder she was framed for, stay in custody, and try contriving an appeal from behind bars!

Of course the film begins with a long set-up, and the lead actress smiling for about 10 minutes to really emphasise how pleased she is to be arriving in Paris. No non-Canadian actress would ever do that IMO. Anyway, the catastrophe is bad when it occurs: the horrid sight of French cops in raiding outfits, led by ---- yes, Eric Cantona. I saw him play for Manchester at Chelsea football ground and the Chelsea audience hated and baited him. It was something. But playing a detective, a bit dumb at first, but finally quite sharp, he is absolutely excellent. I certainly hope we see him more. The same goes for Karine Vanasse, who has lovely breasts and doesn't mind displaying them. She also is a great screamer. Two big talents for one small Quebecois lady. The movie turns into a complicated genetic mystery and the wicked killer is another gorgeous blonde. She is shot stone dead by Eric at the end. Very satisfying, as Karine, whose legs have been horribly broken, gasps: "I didn't do it". Definitely to be watched.

One could easily criticise much about Sophie's behaviour but I think one needs to remember this was an extreme situation to find yourself in - a headless corpse in your accommodation and accused of murder. You can't quite believe it's happening.One thing after another - the fake passport, no flight details for you, no website etc - makes you look guiltyLogical behaviour goes out the window and escaping the police in fear of going to the "madhouse" is understandable. She does explain this in the movie.What's wrong with a little escapism? I can't quite believe the villain would go to all that bother when she could have killed her and be done with it. But she was a bit loopy after all. We have experts for that sort of thing. I'm not one.

I don't understand what the first reviewer was talking about, this is a killer thriller that moves like lightning, once you get past the (very good) setup. Is there a deep mystery to be resolved that's real interesting? Not particularly, but I believe Hitchcock had a term for that, the "mcguffin", the thing the crooks want but the audience doesn't care. This movie is about nonstop action, and it's very well done, one of the best foot chases I've ever seen, with amazing camera work. For them to have accomplished that in 35 days with two cameramen, it's just . . . astounding. By all means check it out.