Samuel Pierret (Gilles Lellouche), a nurse’s aid, is contacted by someone claiming to hold his wife hostage; she’ll be released if Samuel helps a wounded thief (Roschdy Zem) escape from hospital where police are watching over him. Another thriller from director Fred Cavayé that follows the same pattern as his previous Anything for Her (2008), which was made into a Hollywood movie. This one looks like it might get the same treatment, considering how fast and entertaining it is. With a running time this short, focus lies on the bare essentials. However, once the chase is on there’s still time for a few twists along the way. Highly charged, with capably staged action scenes.
2010-France. 84 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Cyril Colbeau-Justin, Jean-Baptiste Dupont. Directed by Fred Cavayé. Screenplay: Fred Cavayé, Guillaume Lemans. Cast: Gilles Lellouche (Samuel Pierret), Roschdy Zem (Hugo Sartet), Gérard Lanvin (Patrick Werner), Elena Anaya, Mireille Perrier, Claire Pérot.
Trivia: Original title: À bout portant. Remade in South Korea as The Target (2014) and in the U.S. as Point Blank (2019).
Last word: “Some of my inspiration comes from classic films like the Hitchcock films, also more classic French thrillers. But at the same time I also have seen a lot of modern films, particularly Kathryn Bigelow’s films and also the Jason Bourne films and so really my style is a mixture of this. What I tried to do is I tried to take real characters, especially people of very few words in a Hitchcock way, but at the same time to shoot them with the same kind of visuals and same kind of speed that might be done in a more modern action film.” (Cavayé, Star Pulse)
