The Black Box (2005)

Images flash through Arthur's brain, voices buzz in his mind, uttering disjointed words and sentences. Arthur Seligman seems to have had an accident but did he run over a little boy or not?... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Berry

Writers:

Eric Assous, Tonino Benacquista (short story)

Stars:

José Garcia, Marion Cotillard, Michel Duchaussoy

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
José Garcia	...	Arthur Seligman
Marion Cotillard	...	Isabelle Kruger / Alice
Michel Duchaussoy	...	M. Seligman, le père d'Arthur
Bernard Le Coq	...	Walcott / le docteur Granger
Héléna Noguerra	...	Soraya
Gérald Laroche	...	Le commissaire Koskas / Marc Koskas
Marisa Borini	...	Mme Seligman, la mère d'Arthur (as Marysa Borini)
Nathalie Nell	...	Dr. Brenner
Lise Lamétrie	...	La gardienne
Pascal Bongard	...	Clovis
Steve Campos	...	Arthur Seligman (6 ans)
Hugo Brunswick	...	Yvan Seligman (ado)
Dominique Bettenfeld	...	Policier 1
Alexandre Donders	...	Le patron du café
Arnaud Maillard	...	Le petit ami de Koskas

Storyline

Images flash through Arthur's brain, voices buzz in his mind, uttering disjointed words and sentences. Arthur Seligman seems to have had an accident but did he run over a little boy or not? And what was he doing near Cherbourg while he lives in Paris? When he regains consciousness (but does he really?) Isabelle Kruger, a nurse, tells him that he had lapsed into a coma after his accident and that she wrote down all of what he said while he was delirious. She gives him the notebook and Arthur starts investigating...HIMSELF!

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Plot Keywords:

coming out of a coma | murder of a nude woman | murder | nudity | bare breasts | 

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

2 November 2005 (France)

Also Known As:

The Black Box

Filming Locations:

Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Roissy-en-France, Val-d'Oise, France

Box Office

Budget:

€8,400,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,333,596 (France), 4 November 2005

Company Credits

Production Co:

EuropaCorp, TF1 Films Production, Canal+

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although the story takes place in Cherbourg, Manche, France, the outdoor hospital scenes were filmed in location in Granville, Manche, France, a hundred kilometers from Cherbourg.

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Soundtracks

Fried Hockey Boogie
Written by Larry Taylor (as Samuel Taylor)
Performed by Canned Heat

User Reviews

Berry give us a poor movie, badly directed...but with, as usual, a good performance for Garcia.

Neither thriller (or very poor), nor fantastic (or missing the point), nor absolutely nothing maybe hardly an involuntary turnip...

It's beautiful to care about the shape of a picture, it's even great when we make it well and the greatest stuff it's when we've got a rather solid story... now it's not the case here, the shape is soooo bad, traveling used like amateur, pretty bad effects (see it to believe), overbids of camera movements, thanks to the director for the bad use of the provided means. When you try to make a Fincher's like, well you put all your guts in it, or do it à la classical way, we even have difficulty in being moved by the loud failure at the box office, at least the producers will think twice before giving money to Berry, especially when he tries to put on life a story so stupid. The whole would have been able to make a parody of Lynch but not at all, just a poor story too conventional, it tries to make too much with the heaviness of an elephant, let us not forget the flat and phoned development and you see them coming like hurricane, sterile intrigue with no big sense but the best is the funny finale, just stupid and miserable. I can't imagine how hard the scriptwriter of Memento will laugh by looking this failure. The themes and their so-called symbolism (such as the guilt and love) are treated without sharpness with " the elegance of a bulldozer ", all themes giving without any serious psychology, it's like heard some people at the counter of a pub on a Saturday night. We shall note Garcia's fine interpretation, a baaad from Cotillard (as usual, bah, when we aren't an actress it's more difficult) and poor Lecoq who, no chance buddy, had to play an improbable and ridiculous character.

This gives a bad B movies to put in "nanards"(ridiculous movies) of a conceited French cinema more and more sterile by trying to give itself some effects but finish like pure garbage.

what a waste of time and money