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IMDbPro

The Great Alibi

Original title: Le grand alibi
  • 20082008
  • 1h 33m
IMDb RATING
5.4/10
626
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
90,612
32,388
The Great Alibi (2008)
A psychoanalyst and consummate womanizer is brutally shot while his wife is standing over him with a revolver in her hand.
Play trailer1:39
1 Video
2 Photos
CrimeDramaMystery
A psychoanalyst and consummate womanizer is brutally shot while his wife is standing over him with a revolver in her hand.A psychoanalyst and consummate womanizer is brutally shot while his wife is standing over him with a revolver in her hand.A psychoanalyst and consummate womanizer is brutally shot while his wife is standing over him with a revolver in her hand.
IMDb RATING
5.4/10
626
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
90,612
32,388
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Pascal Bonitzer
    • Writers
      • Pascal Bonitzer(scenario, adaptation and dialogue)
      • Jérôme Beaujour(scenario, adaptation and dialogue)
      • Agatha Christie(based on the novel by)
    • Stars
      • Miou-Miou
      • Lambert Wilson
      • Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Pascal Bonitzer
    • Writers
      • Pascal Bonitzer(scenario, adaptation and dialogue)
      • Jérôme Beaujour(scenario, adaptation and dialogue)
      • Agatha Christie(based on the novel by)
    • Stars
      • Miou-Miou
      • Lambert Wilson
      • Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 3User reviews
    • 7Critic reviews

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:39
    Trailer

    Photos

    Pierre Arditi and Agathe Bonitzer in The Great Alibi (2008)
    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Miou-Miou
    Miou-Miou
    • Éliane Pages - la femme d'Henri
    Lambert Wilson
    Lambert Wilson
    • Le docteur Pierre Collier - un psy séducteur
    Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
    Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
    • Esther Bachmann
    Pierre Arditi
    Pierre Arditi
    • Le sénateur Henri Pages
    Anne Consigny
    Anne Consigny
    • Claire Collier - la femme de Pierre
    Mathieu Demy
    Mathieu Demy
    • Philippe Léger - un jeune écrivain
    Caterina Murino
    Caterina Murino
    • Léa Mantovani - une actrice italienne
    Maurice Bénichou
    Maurice Bénichou
    • Lieutenant Grange
    Céline Sallette
    Céline Sallette
    • Marthe
    Agathe Bonitzer
    Agathe Bonitzer
    • Chloé
    Dany Brillant
    Dany Brillant
    • Michel - le chauffeur et factotum de Léa
    Emmanuelle Riva
    Emmanuelle Riva
    • Geneviève Herbin
    Nicolas Koretzky
    • Bertrand
    Jim Adhi Limas
    Jim Adhi Limas
    • Owen
    • (as Jim-Adhi Limas)
    Alain Libolt
    • Le contrôleur
    François Regnault
    François Regnault
    • Le Procureur
    Lyliane Facelina
    • Lisette
    Hélène Devynck
    • Pa Présentatrice JT
    • Director
      • Pascal Bonitzer
    • Writers
      • Pascal Bonitzer(scenario, adaptation and dialogue)
      • Jérôme Beaujour(scenario, adaptation and dialogue)
      • Agatha Christie(based on the novel by)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The detective Hercule Poirot, the investigator in the original novel, is absent from the film.
    • Connections
      Version of Kiken na onnatachi (1985)

    User reviews3

    Review
    Top review
    7/10
    Agatha Christie in the French style
    The legal successors of Agatha Christie were known to be very strict with film producers. Their terms of reference indeed implied that the screen adaptations of Lady Agatha's mysteries were to be set exclusively within the four-decade period (1920's-1960's) in which she had been active and in the very places she had described (England most of the time of course). Then in 2000 or thereabouts they suddenly relented and started accepting adaptations that were less faithful to the letter provided of course they stuck to the spirit of the original work. As a result, the stories could be updated, the action relocated while the sacrosanct investigators (Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, …) could be replaced by more anonymous though not necessarily less colorful local sleuths…

    Would Miss Christie's celebrated whodunits survive such a treatment?

    It looks as though they do.

    In France Pascal Thomas was the first to step into the breach (he made two adaptations, 'Mon petit doigt m'a dit' and 'L'heure zéro' and his currently shooting his third one). Now it is Pascal Bonitzer's turn to offer French viewers his own re-reading of 'The Hollow', first published in 1944, oddly retitled 'Le grand alibi' (a title previously used for the dubbed version of Hitchcok's 'Stage Fright').

    The common point of the three films is that their plot has been transposed to contemporary France, that they are very faithful to the source novel (their plot twists have not been altered or very little) and that they play by the rules of the detective story genre, never outsmarting the writer and each time providing the viewer with a very satisfying mystery climax.

    What distinguishes them is the tone adopted. While Thomas' two films have a quirky offbeat poetic humor Bonitzer slashes at his characters in a harsher, more down-to-earth way, notably through nasty, biting dialogs.

    A senator (self-assured, no-nonsense Arditi), his conventional wife (hilariously goody-goody Miou-Miou), some of their relatives and their guests (womanizer Lambert Wilson, sex-bomb-with a brain Caterina Murino and others all played by very competent actors) are not left unscathed by Bonitzer (and Christie, it goes without saying)'s scalpel.

    Anyway, whether adapted by Thomas or Bonitzer, evidence is that there is more to Agatha Christie's crime stories than just well constructed but hollow pulp fiction. What allows her writings to transcend time and borders is the characters she created, most of them hiding their vices behind the varnish of good manners. Finding the murderer is also unveiling the dark side of human nature. What is more universal?
    helpful•13
    4
    • guy-bellinger
    • Jul 20, 2008

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 30, 2008 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • France
    • Official sites
      • Official site
      • Official site (Japan)
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Велике алібі
    • Filming locations
      • Villiers-le-Bâcle, Essonne, France
    • Production companies
      • Union Générale Cinématographique (UGC)
      • SBS Films
      • Medusa Film
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross worldwide
      • $3,959,804
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 33 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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