Under a False Name (2004)

A mysterious writer is involved in a love affair with his stepson's wife, leading to a web of intrigue and desire.

Director:

Roberto Andò

Writers:

Roberto Andò (scenario), Salvatore Marcarelli (scenario)

Stars:

Daniel Auteuil, Greta Scacchi, Anna Mouglalis

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Daniel Auteuil	...	Daniel / Writer / Nicoletta's husband
Greta Scacchi	...	Nicoletta
Anna Mouglalis	...	Mila / Fabrizio's wife
Giorgio Lupano	...	Fabrizio / Nicoletta's son
Magdalena Mielcarz	...	Ewa / Mila's friend (as Magda Mielcarz)
Michael Lonsdale	...	David Ginsberg
Serge Merlin	...	Le père de Daniel / Daniel's father
François Germond	...	Maître / Master Selogmann
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Laure Brosson	...	Segretaria / Secretary
Vlastimil Canek	...	Custode / Guardian
Izabella Dziarska
Salvatore Ferraro
Georges Guerreiro
Joelle Mnouchkine
David O'Kelly

Storyline

A writer at the height of his fame. He's very secretive, no one knows what he looks like, no one knows anything about his life. His pseudonym is Jerzy Novak, his real name is Daniel Brodskj. He has to get to Capri for the wedding of his stepson Fabrizio, the son of Nicoletta, the Italian woman Daniel is married to and with whom he lives in Switzerland. On the ferryboat there's an extraordinarily beautiful woman. They exchange looks, making small passes at each other with their eyes. When they arrive they share a taxi and they to end up in bed together for a night of sex. In the morning there's no trace of her. He is late, they're waiting for him in church. It's the start of a very strange, and certainly fateful wedding. The radiant bride is watched by the guests. And it's only now that Daniel discovers that it's her, the girl he's just left. It's the start of a relentless mechanism where Daniel is the target. Secretly, Mila and our writer, abandon themselves to their passion. Then, ...

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Plot Keywords:

older man younger woman sex | sex with father in law | cheating wife | sex with daughter in law | female pubic hair | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

distributor's official site for individuals Distributor's official site for professionals

Country:

Italy France Switzerland

Language:

Italian French Polish

Release Date:

27 February 2004 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Strange Crime

Filming Locations:

Geneva, Canton de Genève, Switzerland

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

€156,122 (Italy), 29 February 2004, Limited Release

Company Credits

Production Co:

Vision Productions, Titti Film, Medusa Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

Original and involving

"Le prix du désir" is a very interesting movie shot between France, Switzerland, Italy and Poland. It's not an action movie at all, and the story is strong and passionating.

A French-Polish writer goes to Italy for the wedding of his son. During the travel he meets a gorgeous girl, with whom he lives an adventure. The day after he discovers that she's the woman who is going to marry his son... But it's not all. Someone threatens him to reveal the truth about his writing career -actually he stole a manuscript of a dead friend writer and published it with his own name. That allowed him a brilliant career...

The story is interesting because it shows a series of situations where the change of name and lies are dominant. We see the destruction of a man and of his fame -with inexorability his own certainties fall down.

It's interesting to see that the titles of this Italian-French production don't mean the same thing. In French the film is called "Le prix du désir", in English we can translate it with "The price of desire". In Italian the title is instead "Sotto falso nome" (in English something like "With a false name"). I don't know why the titles are so different...

But each shows a theme of the film. Actually the man pays a price for the desire, because his misfortune begins with the love story with his son's wife. Furthermore, as I said, the fact of changing name of people and things is a way of hiding the truth -and it happens often in the movie, it's a recurrent theme in the story.

Italian movie-maker Roberto Andò directs the movie with smoothness and confidence. The cast is strong: French actor Daniel Auteuil is excellent in his portrait of the writer (the character has also something very treacherous); Greta Scacchi is his wife and Anna Mouglalis is the sexy girl who makes him fall into disgrace.