Scribe (2016)

The unemployed Duval is contacted by a mysterious organization to transcribe intercepted calls. He accepts the job with no suspicions, since it restores stability to his life, but it will soon result in political shenanigans of all kinds.

Director:

Thomas Kruithof

Writers:

Thomas Kruithof (original scenario), Yann Gozlan (original scenario)

Stars:

François Cluzet, Denis Podalydès, Sami Bouajila

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
François Cluzet	...	Duval
Denis Podalydès	...	Clément (as Denis Podalydès de la Comédie Française)
Sami Bouajila	...	Labarthe
Simon Abkarian	...	Gerfaut
Alba Rohrwacher	...	Sara
Philippe Résimont	...	De Grugy
Daniel Hanssens	...	Albert
Bruno Georis	...	Le bras droit de Labarthe
Olivier Bony	...	Le voisin
Bernard Eylenbosch	...	L'homme de main
Alexia Depicker	...	La responsable RH
Nader Farman	...	Al-Shamikh
Angelo Dello Spedale	...	Pernot
Yves Jadoul	...	Le vieil homme du couloir
Christian Hening	...	L'employé de ménage (as Christian Hening de Franceschi)

Storyline

The unemployed Duval is contacted by a mysterious organization to transcribe intercepted calls. He accepts the job with no suspicions, since it restores stability to his life, but it will soon result in political shenanigans of all kinds.

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Plot Keywords:

telephone call | one word title | office worker | office | fired from the job | 

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Genres:

Action | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Belgium France

Language:

French

Release Date:

11 January 2017 (France)

Also Known As:

The Eavesdropper

Filming Locations:

Brussels, Brussels-Capital, Belgium

Box Office

Budget:

$5,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

2425 Films, Scope Pictures, Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Duval being hired to perform a menial and seemingly pointless administrative task, working alone in an empty office space, is very similar to the establishing plot of the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League", in which pawnbroker Jabez Wilson is hired by the fictitious League to daily attend an otherwise empty office and copy out pages from the Encyclopedia Britannica by hand.

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Goofs

We see Duval (François Cluzet) typing with two fingers, but in the close-ups we see the hands typing with ten fingers.

User Reviews

Shadowy spy story proves devil is in the detail and there's not enough devil

This is a spy thriller with a minimalist style and a paranoid feel. It has theme about one who places trust in those who don't trust others.The strength in the script is that it places the viewer right in the predicaments about telling the truth, and being trapped with seemingly no way out. For this it should be given credit for the genuine feeling of intrigue. Atmosphere builds very well but it is impossibly to sustain as a crime enters the storyline where the impact is low in atmosphere. From then on there are difficulties with plot holes about the scribe's options. The uneventful daily routine, where our middle-aged, recently long term-unemployed protagonist sits in an empty modern apartment and types up mundane phone conversations on an old fashioned typewriter is a bit far fetched, as is his easy trust of his anonymous employer who presumably he would have vetted after such a strange job interview. But, all in all, it is a slightly above average thriller.