Dédales (2003)

Director:

René Manzor

Writer:

René Manzor (writer)

Release Date:

10 September 2003 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

L'individu n'est que la somme des personnalités qu'il abrite

Cast

Lambert Wilson	...	Brennac
Sylvie Testud	...	Claude
Frédéric Diefenthal	...	Matthias
Michel Duchaussoy	...	Karl Freud
Edouard Montoute	...	Ray
Tomer Sisley	...	Malik (as Tomer Gazit Sisley)
Jean-Henri Compère	...	Alex
Jérémy Bombace	...	L'enfant
Valérie Lemaître	...	La mère / La prostituée
Michaël Toch-Martin	...	Le livreur de pizzas (as Michaël Toch)
Pierre Triboulet	...	L'aveugle
Tshilombo Imhotep	...	Stan
Hakim Louk'man	...	Karim
Jean-Paul Dermont	...	Simon
Stan Sluijzer	...	Marcel

Also Known As:

Labyrinth (International: English title)

Runtime:

France:100 min

Country:

France | Belgium

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | South Korea:15 | Germany:16 | Japan:PG-12

Company:

Alexis Films

Trivia:

Director Cameo: [René Manzor]as the attorney in the beginning of the film

Movie Connections:

Remade as Labyrinth (2010)

A great 6th Sense-style movie with a French twist!

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I left the Paris theater hours ago and yet my mind is still haunted by the amazing images and sound design of this French masterpiece (far from being the typical boring and arrogant 'film d'auteur'). It's the story of Claude (played by Sylvie Testut, with a true Oscar-caliber performance here), a 25-year old mentally ill girl who happens to be France's worst ever serial killer (27 victims discovered half decomposed in the 800-year-old maze of Paris' catacombs). Her trial sentencing is pending, for the judge is waiting for Claude's 3-month psychological evaluation. She is sent to a High Security Mental Institution, which Director, Dr. Karl Freud, requires the second opinion of Brennac (played by French star Lambert Wilson, The Merovingian-Cursing-in-French-Virus-Program from 'The Matrix Reloaded'), a subdued psychiatrist, and ask him to figure out the multiple personality disorder that affects Claude beyond belief and to solve the reasons behind her horrifying killing spree in Paris undergrounds. We then enter Claude's dark mind while recurring flash-backs (starting 6 days prior to Claude's arrest) help us to better understand and enjoy the increasingly confusing yet fascinating plot.

Well, this is basically an AMAZING film à la "6th sens" (concerning the completely unexpected final twist) with a GREAT look (the photography is constantly bleached and "grainy") and impressive sound design. I also truly enjoyed the acting, like Frederic Diefenthal, the goofy cop from the "Taxi" action movies, who plays here a moody Paris P.D. freelance Profiler, giving useful tips to the investigators combing the crime scenes in a dark and rainy Paris, far far away from the picture perfect Eiffel Tower or Champs Elysees. The sound design is extremely well developed and comes on cue, at moments you least expect. Not a single shot is useless or redundant and the final twist is not as pointless or predictable as in 90% of today's Hollywood movies of similar genre.

I bet this picture will get the attention of those West coast execs who lack such thing as imagination that they will feel they need to buy this French movie just to get the adaptation rights. Anyway, if you've got that picture playing in a theater near you, it's well worth your $10 !! My vote: 8/10.