Bearing more than a distant resemblance to Claude Chabrol's "Que La Bete Meure "(1969)since the basic scheme is virtually the same :the investigation to find the car, a despicable person (David Clavel)playing more or less the part of Jean Yanne, a teenager who is not a happy person ,in search of an identity ( a daughter replacing the son) , a first suspect (Nathalie Baye in the role of Caroline Cellier)who reveals herself a nice woman ;both movies end ,once the storm had died down, with a piece of classical movie.
It must be admitted Frederic Mermoud's suffers in these comparisons: the screenplay cannot match Gegauff/Chabrol's terrifying tale,based on a Nicholas Blake's novel ,and the director can't begin to touch the famous late master's brilliance ,when he was at the height of his career ,in the late sixties/early seventies.
His movie drags on and is saved by its actresses :both Emmanuelle Devos and mainly ,mainly Nathalie Baye give faultless performances .Baye ,now a sixty-something ,is like a good wine :she improves with time and she is as attractive as in the eighties ;but I must agree with the precedent user ,a French cinema connoisseur: "La Volante",also a variation on the hit-and-run subject ,was much more exciting.But the Devos/Baye invisible feud is worth the price of admission and the ending is deeply moving and shows us ,in our trouble time ,that forgiveness can bring peace of mind.
It must be admitted Frederic Mermoud's suffers in these comparisons: the screenplay cannot match Gegauff/Chabrol's terrifying tale,based on a Nicholas Blake's novel ,and the director can't begin to touch the famous late master's brilliance ,when he was at the height of his career ,in the late sixties/early seventies.
His movie drags on and is saved by its actresses :both Emmanuelle Devos and mainly ,mainly Nathalie Baye give faultless performances .Baye ,now a sixty-something ,is like a good wine :she improves with time and she is as attractive as in the eighties ;but I must agree with the precedent user ,a French cinema connoisseur: "La Volante",also a variation on the hit-and-run subject ,was much more exciting.But the Devos/Baye invisible feud is worth the price of admission and the ending is deeply moving and shows us ,in our trouble time ,that forgiveness can bring peace of mind.