La question humaine (2007)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Nicolas Klotz

Writers:

François Emmanuel (story)
Elisabeth Perceval (writer)

Release Date:

12 September 2007 (France)

Genre:

Drama | History | Music | War

Plot:

A psychologist discovers troubling links between Nazism and modern-day big business.

Plot Keywords:

Psychologist | Corporation | Nazism | Paris France | Singer

Awards:

4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Mathieu Amalric	...	Simon
Michael Lonsdale	...	Mathias Jüst
Edith Scob	...	Lucy Jüst
Lou Castel	...	Arie Neumann
Jean-Pierre Kalfon	...	Karl Rose
Valérie Dréville	...	Lynn Sanderson
Laetitia Spigarelli	...	Louisa
Delphine Chuillot	...	Isabelle
Nicolas Maury	...	Tavera
Rémy Carpentier	...	Jacques Paolini
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Louis Aguettant	...	Le chanteur de fado
Mathieu Césarsky	...	Hurleur 2
Jessica Cohen	...	La jeune fille qui chante
Cyrille Kervestin	...	Walter
Mamadou Steve Koundio	...	Le travesti africain
Julien Lacroix	...	Philippe
Philippe Montaye	...	Hurleur 1
Miguel Poveda	...	Flamenco singer
Olivier Renouf	...	Le danseur after rave
Erwan Ribard	...	Miguel
Jean-Pierre Vigneau	...	Angelino
Patrick Zocco	...	Le flic

Also Known As:

Heartbeat Detector (International: English title)
The Human Question (USA) (literal title)

Runtime:

143 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Le Mans, Sarthe, France

Company:

Sophie Dulac Productions

From a promising start turns into polemic

If I am tired and want some mind-numbing entertainment, I don't mind if a film presents its issues in black and white - the baddies are bad, the goodies are good and the moral dilemmas are no more taxing than first grade arithmetic.

Heartbeat Detector does not fall into that category. It is not entertainment. Everything about it says this is a film to think about and take seriously. The web of lies, the conflicts between different players' sense of reality, cries out to us: art-house, subtlety, layers of meaning. How disappointing then that the film gradually degenerates into a simplistic (and false) moral message.

The true awfulness of the film is only revealed at the very end. The implication of final scene (I won't spoil it for you by saying how that implication is made but it will be obvious if you watch it) is that the viewer is being blessed with an earth-shattering profundity. In fact it is nothing more profound than a reminder of something we already knew and which has been presented much more artistically in the cinema many times before.

It has other flaws too, already discussed by other reviewers, but I give it 4 stars because I agree with some of the positive comments made.