Please keep in mind that the film I saw was a work in progress: I was part of a test audience who previewed the film in its post-production form. What reaches theatres eventually may be quite different. We can only hope.
What could be an enlightening look at the circles of Nazi sympathy that existed and continue to exist in every level of French society is instead muddled and uncertain. Weak, terribly awkward dialogue and characters who make no sense distract from the core story. The usually splendid Michael Caine comes off as not only unsympathetic (which was perhaps the intent), but actually annoying: a bumbling, puffy old man begging for atonement for his sins without showing any willingness to pay for them. That this is being marketed as a "political thriller" is most distressing: though I can see that an aura of suspense was intended, it fails to materialise. The audience knows what will happen from beginning to end.
I look forward to seeing the final product - I think there may be hope here, but the film needs *work*. Badly. Especially for the sake of all the respected names involved (Norman Jewison, Caine, Tilda Swinton, Jeremy Northam).
What could be an enlightening look at the circles of Nazi sympathy that existed and continue to exist in every level of French society is instead muddled and uncertain. Weak, terribly awkward dialogue and characters who make no sense distract from the core story. The usually splendid Michael Caine comes off as not only unsympathetic (which was perhaps the intent), but actually annoying: a bumbling, puffy old man begging for atonement for his sins without showing any willingness to pay for them. That this is being marketed as a "political thriller" is most distressing: though I can see that an aura of suspense was intended, it fails to materialise. The audience knows what will happen from beginning to end.
I look forward to seeing the final product - I think there may be hope here, but the film needs *work*. Badly. Especially for the sake of all the respected names involved (Norman Jewison, Caine, Tilda Swinton, Jeremy Northam).