Le deuxième souffle (2007)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Alain Corneau

Writers:

Alain Corneau (adaptation)
José Giovanni (dialogue) ...

Release Date:

24 October 2007 (Belgium)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Gu, a famous gangster, has just escaped from jail. All french police is after him. Before leaving the country with Manouche, the woman he loves, Gu needs a final job to get some money. The job works, but a police's scheming makes Gu appear as a traitor to his own accomplices. Gu will do whatever it takes to clean his honor...

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Beautiful Woman | Escape From Prison | Remake | Escaped Convict

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Daniel Auteuil	...	Gustave 'Gu' Minda
Monica Bellucci	...	Simona - dite 'Manouche'
Michel Blanc	...	Commissaire Blot
Jacques Dutronc	...	Stanislas Orloff
Eric Cantona	...	Alban
Daniel Duval	...	Venture Ricci
Gilbert Melki	...	Jo Ricci
Nicolas Duvauchelle	...	Antoine
Jacques Bonnaffé	...	Pascal
Philippe Nahon	...	Commissaire Fardiano
Jean-Paul Bonnaire	...	Théo, le passeur
Francis Renaud	...	Letourneur
Stéphane Brel	...	Poupon
Philippe Chaine	...	Godefroy
Gérald Laroche	...	Chef

Also Known As:

The Second Wind (International: English title)

Runtime:

France:155 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Japan:R-15 | France:U (with warning)

Filming Locations:

Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Company:

ARP Sélection

Trivia:

Monica Bellucci decided to bleach her hair blonde for her role to give her role more of a "gangster" feel to it.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Gu is traveling by bus from Paris to Marseille, a modern day car can be seen through the window.

Movie Connections:

Version of Le deuxième souffle (1966)

Looks nice but unnecessary...

Based on the novel Un Reglement de Comptes by Jose Giovanni on which legendary auteur Jean-Pierre Melville based his classic 1966 film, one has to admire the balls on Alain Corneau for tackling the same source material. A more colorful adaptation of the Giovanni novel, SECOND BREATH rejects all things black and white. Headlamps are amber and there's even a jaundiced light over black and white crime scene photos. In fact, Corneau's SECOND BREATH isn't just colorful; it's garish. Hues are saturated to stratospheric levels.

Apart from the color and some intensified violence, Corneau's version of SECOND BREATH is an exercise in redundancy for fans of the original Melville film. It's not to say that Corneau's film is bad by any stretch of the imagination. It's simply just not necessary.