Chrysalis (2007)

Sadly Over-hyped

Instant Favorite.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Science fiction is not a genre in which French cinema dabbles to any great extent although it does have a fine tradition of horreur as in Les Diaboliques and Les Jeux sans visage which are distant relatives of Chrysalis as both deal with death in one form or another; a death that isn't really a death on the one hand and the idea of 'rebuilding' broken bodies on the other. Here we have parallel stories. Futuristic (2020) cop David Hoffman, sees both his wife and his female partner killed in front of him and sets out to nail the two brothers responsible. At the same time a highly successful female surgeon is driving the car is which her daughter is killed and is bent on reviving her in her state-of-the- art clinic. Oh, I almost forgot, there's a machine involved and it's capable of erasing people's memories of if this were a James Bond movie SMERSH or SCEPTRE or both would be after it but we have to be content with smaller fry. There are two exceptional fist-fights (for which Dupontel insisted on doing his own fighting) of the kind that after ninety seconds tops one or both of the fighters would be dead and/or comatose but instead, natch, they keep at it for four or five minutes. Watchable but Dupontel has done far better stuff in this line, like The prey.

French director Julien Leclercq, who also co-scripted this film set in 'the near future', has produced a marvel of style and menace in this tale riddled with ambiguities. There are identical twins, people who switch identities, people who forget entirely who they are, others who remember being someone else, and general questions of identity. The film is a tease, and is extremely thought-provoking. The colour film stock has been flashed, so that it is very faded, and the scenes have then been tinted blue by shooting through a blue lens, which sometimes is removed when focusing on the people. In fact, there seem to be several tones and shades, and whether this was done while shooting or in the film processing I do not know. At times, it is nearly 'blanc et noir', as the French call black and white, or should I say 'bleu et noir'. The art direction is superb. Some of the acting is intentionally stylized, with the secret villains remaining aloof, calculating, and showing hypocritical and unconvincing warmth to the people they are manipulating in the story. The Bulgarian villain is convincingly psychopathic, and really, he is the best example I have seen why Bulgarians should be restricted in their right to travel within the EU. We just don't want to run into him, or his brother! There are some grisly but mind-boggling scenes of intense individual combat and martial arts at close quarters in confined spaces here, and I cannot imagine how many weeks or months it must have taken to rehearse all those moves. The film has some deeply disturbing aspects of technological innovation as applied to human mind manipulation, and there are numerous stressful scenes which sensitive souls would do well not to watch. If you have a low stress level, do not buy this DVD, as you really will not be able to sleep afterwards. But for those who can tough it out, it is well worth watching, and studying carefully. Leclercq is above all a master stylist, and perhaps he should be a designer. There are several excellent performances in this film, and it does not matter that the dialogue is rudimentary, for the silences and ambiguities are all the more effective as a result of the lack of verbal exposition. As is usual in all modern French thrillers, a sense of deep paranoia about the French state pervades the tale, and the security services are the ultimate villains. And now that the French state is run by what they call 'the Bermuda Triangle' (Hollande and his two feuding women), the fact that people disappear and re-emerge, memories vanish into black holes and are then summoned forth again, seems part of the surreal political landscape of today, as if it had been anticipated by Leclercq in 2007, and premonitorily evoked. Instead of the women and girls being called Manon and Clemence as in this film, one expects them to be called Segolène and Valérie. Or would that be too much for the nerves to bear? And at the controls of the new technology in this film is the eerie Marthe Keller, who plays a German immigrant to France, thus reminding us of 1940 and all those charming Germans who came to France at that time, with similar intentions to make people disappear. The warnings about mind control implicit in this film should be taken seriously. Mind control projects have been going on for half a century or more, and they only get worse, so watch and learn.

This is a stylish french sci-fi movie. After a murder, a policemen has his memory where his wife gets killed. Unfortunately another investigation leads him to the same killer. Another parallel story is one of a young women you is locked in a hospital and gets some odd treatment to get some memory erased.The story has some rough edges although the global plot is quite interesting. Most actors do a great job, although some are a little too frenchy. The most interesting part of the movie is the directions and all details. Fighting scenes are gripping, and the futuristic details give a great sense of realism. You really buy his 2025 Paris, the futuristic operations at the hospital.Despite details of the story, this movie is very entertaining and has style.

Julien Leclercq.....how do I buy a copy of this wonderful film on DVD in the USA??? I saw your film, Chrysalis, at AFI/Dallas. I admire it tremendously for so many aspects of the work. I am a novice film maker and wish to study all that you have incorporated into the creation of this project. It is clearly a construction of what you appreciate so much about American style action films. But you have achieved all this and even more in this effort. And so very nicely hidden is this process, so as not to be too obvious. Beautiful, stylized, intriguing, gripping. The characters are fully developed and acted to a fine manner. Oh, but for a better ending...Chrysalis would be an instant cult classic and must have for all lovers of this genre, as well as many others. I would give it: A+ Directing, A+ Cinematography, A Ensemble Acting, A Sound Design, A+ Editing, C+ Script, (but only for the ending). In all I would hope to accomplish but a very small fraction of what you have created in this fine and marvelous effort. Most respectful congratulations to you. I will look forward to seeing many more Julien Leclercq films to come. (If I am to be allowed to buy them in the USA!) Regrds, JB