Frantic (1988)

Director:

Roman Polanski

Writers:

Roman Polanski (writer) &
Gérard Brach (writer)

Release Date:

26 February 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

They've taken his wife. Now he's taking action.

Plot:

A doctor and his wife go to Paris for a medical conference. While showering, his wife disappears. His lack of language...

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Missing Wife | Espionage | Loss Of Friend | Kidnapping

Cast

Harrison Ford	...	Dr. Richard Walker
Betty Buckley	...	Sondra Walker
Emmanuelle Seigner	...	Michelle
Djiby Soumare	...	Taxi Driver
Dominique Virton	...	Desk Clerk
Gérard Klein	...	Gaillard
Stéphane D'Audeville	...	Bellboy
Laurent Spielvogel	...	Hall Porter
Alain Doutey	...	Hall Porter
Jacques Ciron	...	Le Grand Hotel Manager
Roch Leibovici	...	Bellboy 2
Louise Vincent	...	Tourist
Patrice Melennec	...	Hotel Detective Le Grand Hotel
Ella Jaroszewicz	...	Restroom Attendant
Joëlle Lagneau	...	Florist

Also Known As:

Frantic (France)

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA | France

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Peru:14 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Ireland:15

Filming Locations:

Le Grand Hotel Inter Continental, 2 rue Scribe, Paris 9, Paris, France

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Harrison Ford thought that "Frantic" was a misleading title for the film as the script didn't have a frantic pace. He suggested that "Moderately Disturbed" would be a more appropriate title. Polanski wasn't amused.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Walker climbs on the roof to Michelle's apartment, the suitcase comes open and her belongings pour out, sliding down the roof and to the ground many floors below. The Statue of Liberty model can be clearly seen flying over the edge, hitting the dormer of a window, and launching out into the courtyard. However, a few minutes later, once we have learned the statue's importance, it is still lying on that dormer, and Walker and Michelle must climb out to get it, risking their lives.

Quotes:

Hotel Detective Le Grand Hotel: Have you and your wife been to Paris before?
Richard Walker: Yes, on our honeymoon.
Hotel Detective Le Grand Hotel: Is it possible she met someone here? Someone she has been thinking about?
Richard Walker: Since June 15th, 1964?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Gynaikes dilitirio (1993)

Soundtrack:

The More I See You

Before "The Game" and "Breakdown" there was..."Frantic"

Before "Breakdown" and "The Game" there was Roman Polanski's paranoia thriller "Frantic."

Harrison Ford plays a doctor who, along with his wife, Sondra, takes a trip to Paris to go to a medical convention. They arrive there with everything, except for the fact that his wife has picked up the wrong bag at the airport. While he's in the shower at the hotel, his wife says something, and he can't hear her through the bathroom. And then she's gone, out the door. Ford goes looking for her. Soon he finds a drunk who says he saw his wife pushed into a van. Ford finds her necklace on the ground where the drunk says he saw them. Soon he realizes that it's something with the suitcases that made whoever-it-is-who-took-his-wife take his wife, and he embarks on a journey to get back his wife.

The first thing about "Frantic" is how the characters and dialouge are both realistic. Ford fits the tourist-yuppie-gone-frantic quite well. The world around him seems to be quite at ease, but we can see that he is not.

I can identify with Ford's character, because when I sometimes become frantic for some reason or another, it seems like the world around me has stopped and I have to find what I'm looking for. (Whether it be a lost wallet, whatever.) The world seems to be completely calm and the fact that no one really seems to care makes you even the more frantic. I like to think that's what Ford's character feels like after he finds out his wife is missing and realizes no one is doing anything about it but himself.

There's a brief appearance by John Mahoney as a police officer who doesn't seem to believe Ford's story, passing him off as a crazy tourist. Ford tells them (the two police officers) he has witnesses who saw his wife being carried away by a guy with his arm around her shoulder. "Maybe she was having a good time," Mahoney says. Ford turns to him and says, "You're talking about my wife!" He grabs Mahoney, and says, "Maybe he was carrying her out like this. He could have a gun, and say, 'don't move! Shut up!'". That is realistic filmmaking right there, because that's exactly what we always see in films; the bad guy holding someone close to his chest with a concealed weapon. It almost seems like "Frantic" is parodying this.

"Frantic," like "Breakdown," seems to lose steam sometimes, and is topped off by a ridiculous ending (though the one in "Breakdown" was ten times worse). But in the long run it's a pretty solid thriller that I personally enjoy more than "The Game" in the sense of realisticness (though "The Game" is more fun to watch as a whole, it has way too many plot holes for a serious thriller).

In the end, "Frantic" is a good thriller that is a bit too long in certain areas, but overall is a good way to spend a rainy night.

3.5/5 stars -

John Ulmer