Bearing more than a distant resemblance to Claude Chabrol's "Que La Bete Meure "(1969)since the basic scheme is virtually the same :the investigation to find the car, a despicable person (David Clavel)playing more or less the part of Jean Yanne, a teenager who is not a happy person ,in search of an identity ( a daughter replacing the son) , a first suspect (Nathalie Baye in the role of Caroline Cellier)who reveals herself a nice woman ;both movies end ,once the storm had died down, with a piece of classical movie.
It must be admitted Frederic Mermoud's suffers in these comparisons: the screenplay cannot match Gegauff/Chabrol's terrifying tale,based on a Nicholas Blake's novel ,and the director can't begin to touch the famous late master's brilliance ,when he was at the height of his career ,in the late sixties/early seventies.
His movie drags on and is saved by its actresses :both Emmanuelle Devos and mainly ,mainly Nathalie Baye give faultless performances .Baye ,now a sixty-something ,is like a good wine :she improves with time and she is as attractive as in the eighties ;but I must agree with the precedent user ,a French cinema connoisseur: "La Volante",also a variation on the hit-and-run subject ,was much more exciting.But the Devos/Baye invisible feud is worth the price of admission and the ending is deeply moving and shows us ,in our trouble time ,that forgiveness can bring peace of mind.
