Une employée modèle (2002)

Director:

Jacques Otmezguine

Writer:

Jacques Otmezguine (writer)

Release Date:

6 August 2003 (France)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

François, in his early fifties, successfully runs a computer business in Normandy. He has recently developed...

Cast

François Berléand	...	François Maurey
Delphine Rollin	...	Florence
Nicole Calfan	...	Caroline Maurey
Bruno Todeschini	...	Rolland
François Morel	...	Commissaire Bovary
Leslie Phils	...	Marianne Maurey
Steve Suissa	...	Le rocker
Annick Blancheteau	...	Christina
Jean-Luc Porraz	...	Loraz
Hubert Saint-Macary	...	Charles
Geoffrey Bateman	...	L'Américain
Michel Baladi	...	Gendarme usine
Pierre Forest	...	Gendarme motard
Charlie Gnini	...	Voyou
Abdel Halis	...	Voyou

Also Known As:

A Model Employee (International: English title)
One Model Employee (Canada: English title)

Runtime:

Canada:89 min (Montréal World Film Festival)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | USA:Not Rated | France:U | Singapore:R(A) (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Calvados, France

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

"X 27", the code name of the patent developed by François and coveted by the American corporation is a tribute Josef von Sternberg's "Dishonored" (1931)starring Marlene Dietrich as espionage agent X 27.

Movie Connections:

References Viskningar och rop (1972)

Soundtrack:

Elle est d'ailleurs

Passable French thriller

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"Une employée modèle" is commonly regarded as a poor movie by most, even as a flop by some. I would personally be less disparaging. After all, this is an unpretentious little thriller, designed mainly to entertain - and entertained I was.

The plot revolves around François (François Berléand, more restrained than usual, and quite rightly so considering the role he plays), a software company owner in his fifties. A success in the working world (so much so that a big American corporation covets the new product he has just developed), he is a failure in his private life (he is unable to communicate properly with his daughter and his wife is leaving her after twenty-five years of marriage). He has become a perfect prey for femme fatale Florence...

As I said before, I found this film fun to watch, although I have to admit that this is no masterpiece. Too clichéd (the ugly American shark) and far-fetched (the Marxist cop commissaire Bovary, named after Flaubert, what a mishmash!), "Une employée modèle" suffers mainly from its unbelievable last part.

On the other hand, the first two thirds are not that bad, giving the viewer an insight into the everyday life of a small computer business in provincial France. And the three successive false endings - terribly unrealistic as they are - do get the plot moving again until the very last seconds.

All in all, not such a bomb as announced. Rather a passable thriller, nothing to be ashamed of.