A Crime (2006)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Manuel Pradal

Writers:

Tonino Benacquista (writer)
Manuel Pradal (writer)

Release Date:

11 October 2006 (Belgium)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

Vincent's life is on hold until he finds his wife's killer. Alice, his neighbor, is convinced she can make him happy. She decides to invent a culprit, so that Vincent can find revenge and leave the past behind. But there is no ideal culprit and no perfect crime...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Beach | Dog Race | Beaten Up | Broken Mirror

Cast

Harvey Keitel	...	Roger Culkin
Emmanuelle Béart	...	Alice Parker
Norman Reedus	...	Vincent Harris
Joe Grifasi	...	Bill
Lily Rabe	...	Sophie
Kim Director	...	Ashley
Brian Tarantina	...	Joe
Patrick Collins	...	Ben
Chuck Cooper	...	Will
Clem Cheung	...	Li Huang
Jonathan Lam	...	Baby-Face
Ted Koch	...	Scott
Natalie Caron	...	Jenny
Ben Wang	...	Chinese man
Stephen Payne	...	Mark

Also Known As:

Un crime (France)

Runtime:

103 min | Canada:110 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-13

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

ARP Sélection

Movie Connections:

Referenced in JCVD (2008)

Excellent thriller in the tradition of Henri-Georges Clouzot and René Clément

Some people might have two problems with the film: 1. It's rather old fashioned (which is a good thing in my opinion, I don't like the regular hyped mainstream trash). The plot is the kind of story that could come from a novel of Patricia Highsmith, and the look of the film is more like it's from the late 70's or early 80's. 2. The pretty complex story with a lot of strange (and maybe) almost unbelievable coincidences. And you don't get a simple positive character for identification. Exact the same way many french thrillers from the good old times were working (especially those of Clouzot). Though sometimes these films seem a bit too over-constructed (and I must admit I had this problem when I first saw Clouzot's "Les Diaboliques", 1955). But when you accept this (and life itself sometimes surprises us with strange coincidences too), you will see an excellent, very emotional thriller with great performances. You'll never know what happens next!