Virus au paradis (2003) (TV)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Olivier Langlois

Writers:

Laure Bonin (writer)
Philippe Dussau (writer)

Release Date:

23 June 2003 (France)

Genre:

Thriller

Cast

Richard Bohringer	...	Lucas
Martin Forsström	...	Marcus
Fejria Deliba	...	Aïcha
Hippolyte Girardot	...	Le ministre de la Santé
Frédérique Tirmont	...	Florence
Daniel Martin	...	Georges
Manoëlle Gaillard	...	La femme du ministre de la Santé
Hervé Laudière	...	Le vétérinaire
Bernard Blancan	...	Serge, l'éleveur de poulets
Ilona Grübel	...	Thörunn
Catherine Davenier	...	La femme de l'éleveur
Margrét Ólafsdóttir	...	Inga
Catherine Cyler	...	La femme à la décapotable
Helena af Sandeberg	...	Lilia
Jean-Marc Abborg	...	L'homme à la décapotable

Runtime:

Argentina:180 min

Country:

France | Sweden

Language:

French | English | Icelandic | Swedish

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

France

Company:

Cipango

Kôtkôtkôtkôt kaduuuuuuuk... Beware of chickens!

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Those Frenchies might have found a possible cure for insomnia, 'cause this 180 minutes long TV-movie was so boring, I fell asleep after 60 minutes (and still I decided to watch the rest of it the next day. Yes I'm a persistent m.f., I know). This DVD was offered to me for free when I purchased another one and I was only interested in it because of the topical nature of the theme (the bird flu virus). Boy, am I glad I didn't have to pay for it. This movie isn't a thriller at all because it has absolutely no suspense. It's more a drama.

During the first 80 minutes almost nothing happens, aside from a lot of talking, some chickens running around and people coughing & dying. The last 10 minutes of the first part got a little better, giving me just a little hope for the next 90 minutes. And indeed, part 2 was considerably better, but only because of the beautiful landscapes of Iceland, the deaths of two main characters and... nudity and a sex-scene provided by the good-looking Helena af Sandeberg. But the slow pacing & un-suspenseful events remained. Richard Bohringer is perhaps the only actor worth mentioning, because the rest of the cast was only so-so or just bad.

One redeeming factor might be that the movie felt rather realistic (exept for the fact that Lucas hangs around infected people all the time and never gets ill). As a matter of fact the carriers of the virus aren't actually chickens, but travelling birds and it spreads through any living host, making it a global threat. The movie takes place in France, Sweden and Iceland but I hated the fact that all the inhabitants (exept two extra's) spoke French. That's clearly another problem of the Frenchies: wanting to dub every single word into French. Though the dubbing was rather good, it still is so unbelievable.

It's difficult to rate VIRUS AU PARADIS, with it being a TV-movie and all... I'd give the first part 2 out of 10 stars, the second part 5 out of 10, so that makes an over-all score of 3.5 out of 10. Well, let's make it 4 out of 10 because I liked the angelic chanting on the soundtrack. I suggest not buying this DVD, but instead wait until it comes on TV, and then maybe if you have absolutely nothing better to do, you can watch it.