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DVD Avant l’aube
 Run time: 104 min Rating: 6.4 Genres: Drama | Thriller Director: Raphaël Jacoulot Writers: Lise Macheboeuf, Raphaël Jacoulot Stars: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Vincent Rottiers, Ludmila Mikaël |
| Storyline Frederic is a young man in social rehabilitation. He has just found a night internship, in an isolated hotel in the mountains when, one evening, he sees his boss, Jacques, together with this son, hiding a car in the parking lot. The day after, he learns that one of the clients left the hotel without notice… Written by Amélie Vrla |
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| Plot Keywords: hotel, mountain, rehabilitation, incriminating evidence, evidence tampering | |
| Details: Country: France, Luxembourg Release Date: 2 March 2011 (France) |
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| Box Office Budget: €4,000,000 (estimated) |
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4 comments
Gloom atmosphere of the October – period in a holiday resort in the Pyrenees. The setting reminds of an Hitchcock film, the tension, the characters, the closed environment, alas not the film direction. The objects and evidences of the culprit do not play the role they could in building up the suspense, there is no follow up. I found that the whole story and suspense lands flat on its nose. Good acting from most of the cast, and especially from the second roles. The hotel does not look real for one moment, with real customers, that is a pity.
Good scenario and story, lacking somehow inspiration. Worth seeing in spite of its dull moments.
Some films stand or fall because of one actor, not only because most of the screen time he's there, but because the action pivots on him. This is the case of Vincent Rottiers, whose "Frédéric Boissier" will stay in my memory for a long time.
Well known actors J. P. Bacri, beautiful L. Mikaël and F. Perrot on the surface are the perfect family, owners of a hotel in the chic Pyrinees, serving the wealthy and powerful. But from the first scenes we know something is rotten, and Bacri knows Fréderic has seen to much. As this boy with a troubled past has no family and a simple girlfriend, Machiavellian Bacri buys our friend F. with trifles. A coat from his own son (who subsequently hates him), some awful stiff dinners with his stressed family, staying at the worst employee's room for a few days. And affection, plus a father figure, which F. never had and needs so badly.
Bacri is of course perfect as a likable guy who even while blatantly lying, you wind up still believing him. We've all been used by people like "Jacques".
Nice well shot scenery (even if you don't like the snow & mountains), well used (sparsely) classical music, and a glimpse into a world most of us won't ever know (pricey winter resorts) seen from the owner and the worker's perspective, to boot.
I didn't like the female inspector's character, played by Sylvie Testud ("Ce que mes yeux ont vu" among others) who this time, strangely enough, is not believable at all, I am sure, because of a "thin" character, always clumsy, asking some questions but ultimately not delivering much.
"Jacky", Fréderic's coworker, is also a hidden gem of a character. If you've been envied by somebody without knowing why, you know Jacky.
Sadly beautiful Céline Sallette (Le grand alibi) is also moving in this film, albeit in a small role.
It'll keep you gripping at your seat until the end, and then some. Can't say the same of most blockbusters you'll ever see :)!
PS: There are some loose threads, about a car's light that F. finds, for instance, and doesn't put to good use. Just a passing thought.
This movie takes us back to the gold old "Cinema De Papa" when Pierre Very and Boileau-Narcejac wrote strong screenplays which did not fall apart after the first reel;some would mention Georges Simenon,which means we deal with pure psychological drama/thriller.
Jean-Pierre Bacri gives a powerful terrific performance as the owner of a luxury hotel in the Pyrénées ;we do not really know if he is forced to help this young delinquent because this young lad knows too much about his family or because he needs a human being he can call his son -the relationship with his own son is not exactly ideal-;as for Frederic,he has always been a boy down on his luck:his boss is(or seems to be) the first person to show him sympathy ,in spite of the reproaches of his wife ,who is not prepared to accept a prole -who was in jail for three months- in her cozy bourgeois home.
The cruel ending has got something of Claude Chabrol,maybe the only NV director who had his roots in the great old cinema .
Vincent Rottiers is the weakest link of the cast ,lacking screen presence ;just imagine what Cyril Descours would have done in this part!
Sylvie Testud plays a female Colombo ,also recalling the parts of those superintendents of long ago,Louis Jouvet in "Quai Des Orfevres" or mainly Charles Vanel in "Les Diaboliques".
The director is not Clouzot or Christian-Jaque ,but his movie ,an oasis in a world of blood ,sex and violence,should not be missed:once more,kudos to Bacri!
I like this french drama which sometimes have some thriller accents. Jean Pierre Bacri plays here a fancy hotel owner, right in the middle of the Pyrénées mountains, a superb setting. His son is a budding young gendarme – french police for the country side – who is just got married. One night, Bacri's son accidentally kills a man on the road. One of his father's hostel customer. The young man calls his dad and the two hide the corpse. That's where the story begins. Bacri, as usual, is very convincing in his character. Sylvie Testud, who plays the police woman in charge of the investigation, is very good too.
In this movie, all the characters are very effective in their parts. Nothing is really predictable. The ending is not a real one, and you can guess the following.
Well, maybe…