anthony zimmer 2005 region free dvd5 french bcbc

Anthony Zimmer is a 2005 French romantic thriller film written and directed by Jérôme Salle and starring Sophie Marceau, Yvan Attal, and Sami Frey. Set mainly in southern France, the film is about a highly intelligent criminal—pursued by international police and the Russian mafia—whose extensive plastic surgery makes him unrecognizable, even to his girlfriend, who enlists the help of an unsuspecting stranger on a train. The film received a nomination for the César Award for Best First Feature Film for director Jérôme Salle.

Contains movie and Optional English Subtitles. No menus or extras. Regular DVD quality. Thank you.

Spoken Languages: French (some Russian and English)













Synopsis

Despite both the police and the Russian mob after his head, the brilliant criminal Anthony Zimmer always avoids capture, even resorting to plastic surgery to mask his identity. However, Detective Akerman (Sami Frey) plans to break the case by tracking Zimmer's mistress, Chiara Manzoni (Sophie Marceau), to finally find his man. Chiara -- aware that no one knows Zimmer's appearance -- leads the chase directly to François Taillandier (Yvan Attal), a man in the wrong place at the wrong time.



Cast

Sophie Marceau, Yvan Attal, Sami Frey, Gilles Lellouche, Daniel Olbrychski, Samir Guesmi, Dimitri Rataud, Nicky Marbot, Olivier Chenevat, Alban Casterman, Christophe Odent, Luc Chavy



Critical reception

Anthony Zimmer was critically well received. In her review in Variety magazine, Lisa Nesselson wrote that the "well-staged antics are not of the breathless variety, but a handful of original moments and a satisfying twist make the movie better than average."



In his review in DVD Talk, Svet Atanasov called Anthony Zimmer a "modest French production" that "tiptoes somewhere on the verge between being a sugary melodrama and an action-packed nailbiter with plenty of unexpected twists." Atanasov noted that the film "manages to pull quite a few intelligent stunts with an admirable finesse." Atanasov singled out first-time director Jérôme Salle and veteran actress Sophie Marceau for their work on the film:



Just when I thought that aside from the stunning vistas of the French Riviera and sunny beaches of Ibiza there is nothing else in Anthony Zimmer worth seeing director Jerome Salle managed to convince me that he had plenty of tricks in his bag worthy of recognition. All of a sudden the film became intriguingly dark and veered off in a direction that aroused my attention. Sophie Marceau reassured my belief that age has only further enhanced her irrefutable charm.



In their review in Get the Big Picture, the Three Abiding Dudes applauded the performances of Sophie Marceau and Yvan Attal:

The reason this movie works so well is that there is actual chemistry between Sophie Marceau (Chiara) and Yvan Attal (Francois). We can actually see the attraction between the two prinicple actors, it's strong enough to carry the film when these two are on the screen, and when they are by themselves we can understand their motives and reasoning.



Remake

The film was remade under the title The Tourist, which was directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, starring Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany, and Timothy Dalton, and released on December 10, 2010. Filming began on February 23, 2010 in Paris, France. Despite being a box-office success and receiving three nominations (Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress) in the Musical or Comedy picture category at the 68th Golden Globe Awards, the remake was met with mostly negative critical reviews.



Review: Anthony Zimmer

Posted by Jaskee Hickman

June 20, 2012

Life has to be tough for your average international criminal. You have organizations from the world over constantly on your tail, you can’t see your family and you can never afford to get comfortable. In the film that carries his name, those are a few of the problems that Anthony Zimmer faces. He does however, have easier than most of the lawbreakers stuck in his position. It’s easier, because nobody knows what he looks like.



In France, international law enforcement are on the hunt for criminal mastermind Anthony Zimmer. To make matters worse for him, he also has the Russian mafia doing what they can to track him down. He’s become hard to find since he’s completely altered his appearance with plastic surgery and has apparently changed his voice too. Because of these drastic alterations, no one can recognize him. The only way to get to him is through his girlfriend Chiara (Sophie Marceau), and even she doesn’t know how he looks now.



The police and the mobsters know that it’s best to use her as a pawn and watch her every move. They believe that sooner or later, Zimmer will come into contact with her and then they’ll silence him for good. Zimmer realizes this might be the case for the two opposing forces who stand on different sides of the law, so he has Chiara randomly choose someone as a stand in for him in order to throw them off of his trail. She does exactly that and finds a man named François Taillandier (Yvan Attal) who doesn’t know that he’s being played until he himself is being chased down by people out to end his life.



The movie opens up with a strong sense of mystery surrounding it. During this time, we’re introduced to the characters and we learn bits and pieces of who they are. We also learn about Anthony Zimmer, what he does and why taking him down is so important. We learn these things about him and other characters in a vague manner that lingers for a while.



At this point in the film, we don’t actually meet Anthony Zimmer, but we’re told about him through some of the other people who are receiving the camera time. On the other hand, the other characters and their introductions are handled differently. We get to meet them up front, but the story tells you more and more about them over time. There is no rush to get to know their personalities or their true intentions and that helps in making the movie good.



Because of this, there’s a sense of danger that’s constant and there’s also a large amount of intrigue to go right along with it. Writer/director Jérôme Salle really does a good job of building Anthony Zimmer up during what appears to be a smooth ride for the protagonists in the film while having all of this stuff going on in the background. While taking it all in, you’re watching to see the story that’s currently in your face, but you’re also trying to figure out who everyone is and where this story is actually going to end up.



In order to pull off this kind of storytelling that Anthony Zimmer presents, you also need good actors, some intangible elements of filmmaking like cinematography and a solid soundtrack to go with a skillful writer/director that balances it all out. This film has all of those things included and that’s why it’s an interesting watch all the way through.



Anthony Zimmer is a quick, sleek film that doesn’t try to be extraordinary with special effects, overly emotional acting or crazy action scenes. It’s simply a short, low-key movie that manages to use all of its positives to its advantages. In doing so, you have an interesting and smooth thriller that’s easy to watch and get into. It also doesn’t hurt to have lovely Sophie Marceau to look at. If the remake of this movie (The Tourist) had more of these qualities included in it, it might be held in a higher regard than it actually is.