Rapt (2009)

A rich industrialist is brutally kidnapped. While he physically and mentally degenerates in imprisonment, the kidnappers, police and the board of the company of which he is director negotiate about the ransom of 50 million euro.

Director:

Lucas Belvaux

Writer:

Lucas Belvaux

Stars:

Yvan Attal, Anne Consigny, André Marcon

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yvan Attal	...	Stanislas Graff
Anne Consigny	...	Françoise Graff
André Marcon	...	André Peyrac
Françoise Fabian	...	Marjorie
Alex Descas	...	Maître Walser
Michel Voïta	...	Le commissaire Paoli
Gérard Meylan	...	Le Marseillais
Maxime Lefrançois	...	Bertaux
Christophe Kourotchkine	...	Jean-Jacques Garnier
Sarah Messens	...	Véronique Graff
Julie Kaye	...	Martine Graff (as Julia Kaye)
Marc Rioufol	...	Le commandant Chenut
Patrick Descamps	...	Massart
Bertrand Constant	...	Le capitaine Verne
Tania Torrens	...	Madame Keller

Storyline

Stanislaff Graff, a rich industrialist with a wife and a lover, is kidnapped brutally from his limousine on the eve of his visit to China as part of the entourage of the French president. The kidnappers demand a fifty million euro ransom. In order to prove they are serious, they cut off one of his fingers. What follows is a terrifying sparring match between kidnappers, police and the board of the company of which Graff is the director. The main question for the board: is a human life worth more than fifty million euros? Will they be able to get that amount of money together in time anyway? While they decide this he degenerates physically and mentally in imprisonment. In the meantime, the press dredges up the businessman's past with revelations that are especially painful for his wife.

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Plot Keywords:

businessman

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Taglines:

Paying his ransom won't bury his secrets.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Diaphana [France]

Country:

France Belgium

Language:

French

Release Date:

18 November 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

Apagogi

Filming Locations:

Ostende, Belgium

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$5,872 (USA) (8 July 2011)

Gross:

$45,669 (USA) (9 December 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Agat Films & Cie, Entre Chien et Loup, France 3 Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

He had his left middle finger amputated but when Stan is released he takes off his blindfold and the finger has grown back.

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Connections

Remade as Abducted

User Reviews

Façades

RAPT is more an experience than a film. It is based on the true story of the 1978 kidnapping of French industrialist Edouard-Jean Empain, a millionaire playboy who is abducted and held for ransom for 60 days. Though it is a very fine thriller of the kidnapping/ransom genre this film is far more than that. It is an exploration of the lives of men of wealth who allow their moneyed status to be able to buy anything, behave in any way they wish, and trample lives of family and friends in the process. Is it a pretty picture to follow? No, certainly not, but it is a revealing fact that a crime of kidnapping can be secondary to a life of greed and consumption of power and money that feeds into lives such as the main character of this film and the governmental agencies to respond differently to these moneyed moguls.

Stanislaff Graff (Yvan Attal, in a mesmerizing role) is the wealthy industrialist married to the beautiful and wise Françoise (Anne Consigny), and also has a lover. He is kidnapped brutally from his limousine on the eve of his visit to China as part of the entourage of the French president. The kidnappers treat Graff cruelly, keeping him blindfolded and tied in a tiny tent in a dungeon of a basement: they demand a fifty million euro ransom. As an acct of proving their serious plot, they cut off one of his fingers. What follows is a terrifying sparring match between kidnappers, police and the board of the company of which Graff is the director. The main question for the board: is a human life worth more than fifty million euros? Will they be able to get that amount of money together in time anyway? While they decide this he degenerates physically and mentally in imprisonment. After sixty days Graff is released to a world now cognizant of his secret life of gambling and escapades and secret apartments that the press dredges up, revelations that are especially painful for his wife. Paying his ransom won't bury his secrets.

This film was written and directed by Lucas Belvaux who presents his story with more emphasis on subterfuge and the psychological aspects of the affair that may make the film seem slow moving (125 minutes) but at film's end we realize that the true crime is not so much that of the kidnap/ransom but the abuse of power and money when so many in the world are suffering from homelessness and hunger and foreclosures etc. The drama is significantly heightened by the work of cinematographer Pierre Milon and the moody musical score by Riccardo Del Fra. This is a demanding film but an important one, and the acting of everyone in the large cast is on the highest level - especially the stunning performances by Yvan Attal and Anne Consigny.

Grady Harp