Heure zéro, L' (2007)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Pascal Thomas

Writers:

François Caviglioli (writer)
Agatha Christie (novel)

Release Date:

31 October 2007 (France)

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

François Morel	...	Le commissaire Martin Bataille
Danielle Darrieux	...	Camilla Tressilian
Melvil Poupaud	...	Guillaume Neuville
Laura Smet	...	Caroline Neuville
Chiara Mastroianni	...	Aude Neuville
Alessandra Martines	...	Marie-Adeline
Clément Thomas	...	Thomas Rondeau
Xavier Thiam	...	Frédéric 'Fred' Latimer
Hervé Pierre	...	Ange Werther
Vania Plemiannikov	...	Pierre Leca
Jacques Sereys	...	Me Charles Trevoz
Valériane de Villeneuve	...	Emma
Paul Minthe	...	Heurtebise
Carmen Durand	...	Barrette
Dominique Reymond	...	Mme Geoffroy - La directrice du collège

Also Known As:

Towards Zero (USA) (literal English title)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Filming Locations:

Brittany, France

Company:

Les Films Français

A French murder of an English classic? Actually, no.

This is a very interesting film, adapted from the Agatha Christie book, 'Towards Zero'. While the basic plot line remains the same as the novel, it has been translated across the English Channel to be set in France. This doesn't detract from the content whatsoever, and the 1944 English story has been nicely updated to a modern French murder mystery.

Like the novel, the film discusses one of the character's thoughts that a true murder story has the murder at the end, like a conclusion rather than the introduction, with the story stemming from a series of encounters and circumstances. The film cleverly follows this idea, with the first half of the story being an introduction to at first apparently only vaguely-linked characters, then shows them coming together and presenting their flaws, their likes and hates, their emotional alliances, yet not revealing too much about each one.

Each character is suspicious in their actions or behaviour to an extent and once the inevitable murder has occurred, it is easy to find guilt in almost every action. Clues are left everywhere, and red herrings are equally scattered throughout the plot to trick the viewer into believing "the butler did it" (figuratively). However, the film doesn't provide enough clues for the audience to be able to work out the murderer on their own (a hobby to many, I know) and the final conclusion wasn't particularly satisfying, to me at least.

However, the acting in the film was at times quite laudable, particularly from François Morel (who plays the Inspector Bataille or 'Battle in the original story) and Melvil Poupaud (Guillaume Neuville). However a large portion of the other characters are tremendously overacted and irritatingly, some of the simplest actions feel uninspired and fake. The characters were unnecessarily diverse and colourful and the majority of the characterisation felt like a vague mixture of 40's pomposity and rich, modern flamboyancy.

Despite this, the film is not without its charm and I did enjoy the film throughout. The story is interesting and certainly offers some confusion as to who the culprit will be and later, is. There are some truly hilarious moments, both as only vague actions and very obvious comic characters such as the butler and the housemaid (or 'The Fountain' as she is dubbed for being "the woman who always cries"). There are of course some quite abstract touches, too, such as a 4-member band playing on a merry-go-round atop a small vintage car. The significance of this is clearly open to interpretation, but it was interesting and quite delightful to see. The murder-related areas of the film are satisfying enough, with original weapons, lies, betrayal and trickery all playing an enjoyable part.

Contrastingly, there are areas which really spoilt the otherwise decent murder mystery atmosphere. There is totally unnecessary nudity at one point and as I said, the conclusion seemed like a tacked-on, all-too-convenient twist without much satisfaction left for the audience. Overall, I'd recommend this film to fans of the genre, as there is certainly enough here to satiate your thirst. I'd probably also recommend it to others too, but I would advise against anyone going into a cinema with expectations of tremendous grandeur. This is an enjoyable detective film elevated above the average mark for it's ambition, its quirkiness, a few truly great characters, the rewatchability (I certainly want to see it again, sometime) and perhaps because I saw the World Première, with both director Pascal Thomas and actor Melvil Poupaud making an appearance for a Q&A.