The Girl from Monaco
For the movies to be good or bad, it is casting that plays a major role. Presented by Magnolia Pictures and directed by Anne Fontaine, The Girl from Monaco is again a romantic comedy with some Hitchcockian twirl towards the end.
Film: The Girl From Monaco
Cast: Fabrice Luchini as Bertrand, Varela Louise Bourgoin as Audrey, Stephane Audran as Edith, Christophe Abadi as Zem
Director: Anne Fontaine
Run time: 1 hour and 34 minutes
Rating: 3/5
But this time it is not Jack Lemmon but Fabrice Luchini who is a 57 year old veteran French character actor. The first significant part was played by him some 39 years ago in the film Claries’ Knee.
In this film, Fabrice plays the role of Bertrand who is a powerful, smooth and confident attorney. He is famous and has been hired for quite a difficult case. The case is a millionaire widow Edith Lasalle has been charged with murder of a famous member of Russian mafia. Edith played by Stephane Audran refuses to speak a single word on her defense. It is for unraveling the mystery behind the killing, Bertrand arrives in Monaco.
As he landed, Bertrand found himself constantly shadowed by a tall, dark young man with suit, tie and dark glasses. He is Zem, bodyguard for Bertrand appointed by Edith’s son Louis. This was because Edith family felt that Russians might be a possible threat to Bertrand. But, Bertrand, on the contrary believes that he is in no danger and he finds Zem absurd and absolutely not required.
Zem does his duties without being bothered. He is totally indifferent to any objections raised by Bertrand. However, both worked with sense of admiration and respect for each other as they both were focused on their goals and duties. In this perfect blend between this odd pair, there comes a fiercely ambitious girl Audrey played by Louise Bourgoin. She is the weather reporter from Monaco TV and she felt that she can use Bertrand to get a better television job. What she plans to do is to get an exclusive report about Bertrand, the famous man who moved in Monaco from Paris.
Bertrand can smell trouble as Audrey is vibrant, young and sexy. Audrey claimed that she is in love with him and that he is simply destined for her, Bertrand could not resist the temptation. Audrey was known to many men in Monaco and Zem warned Bertrand as he knew that the woman was a slut and that she can damage and ruin Bertrand’s career.
However, as the movie proceeds, interesting dymanics dominate the film. It’s seen that slowly Zem was falling in love with Bertrand, not for sex but out of sheer admiration for the man who worked so ethically and meticulously. Tension seems growing not only with approaching dates of murder trials but that Zem is a threat to Audrey’s plan as well.
With time, determination of Zem to keep Audrey away from Bertrand began growing and in the midst of these, situation grows more interesting and the plot captivating as elements of evidence for the murder trail could be found.
There begins a chase in the lovely mountain tracks and amidst the scenic landscape of Monaco but all within speed limits with no shootouts whatsoever. Towards the end you will feel that Zem emerged as a strong and interesting character.
Posted on Saturday, July 4th, 2009 at 5:12 pm