I can't think of another instance when a director has taken on two projects, two movies, based on the very same story, but there's one; director Christian Carion who wrote the script for the first movie 'Mon Garçon', French for 'My Son', in 2017, did the remake this time in English, in 2021 (released in Sep-2021). Carion was nominated in 2005 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the best 2004 foreign language film, an Oscar, for the movie Joyeux Noël/Merry Christmas, but lost to Gavin Hood for the film Tsotsi. I took it upon myself to watch the original as well as the remake (yes I do that sort of thing) and here's my take.
There's a definite suspense in the story and how it develops. The IMDb movie synopsis of the 2021 version is a far better one than the 2017 one, though it's the very same story. Go figure! Based on that synopsis, before I watched both movies I expected a suspense and that's what it is. There are known actors, with 'creds', in both versions, that was another reason for me to see them both. Claire Foy plays the mother in the 2021 take while Mélanie Laurent has that role in the 2017 original. I had a marked preference for Mélanie Laurent, not just because she has starred in both French and English movies and series, but I just prefer her acting skills. However, the 2017 original had many audio shortfalls (you have to listen very closely just to hear some of the dialogue, and that annoys me) the 2021 one didn't; still, the intensity of the mother in the 2017 original outshines that of the dad, by far. I don't have a language bias to alter my appreciation, I'm perfectly bilingual, so it is the acting. The father has the predominate role, in both films because it's the same story. The dads, Guillaume Canet, who plays Julien, and James McAvoy who plays Edmond, have the better roles and I do like McAvoy slightly more, if not because I've seen more of his work, but because he delivers, to my taste, a better and believable character.
In the 2017 original, there is little involvement of Marie, the mother's character, in the rescuing of the son, while Joan the 2021 counterpart does, and it helps fill some gaps the2017 sort of leaves us with. As much as I was tantalized by Mélanie Laurent's beautiful naked body in a brief scene of Julien's imagination, I preferred Claire Foy's involvement in the rescue. I will assume the director/screenwriter Christian Carion corrected that gap in the latter version, or perhaps it was a cultural perspective thing about men and women in the two countries, I can't say for sure. Supporting roles of the 'Lieutenant' and the 'Inspector', respectively played by Mohamed Brikat and Gary Lewis in the original and remake, are important roles as supporting characters go. Hands down Gary Lewis is my favourite and he benefited from a few more scenes of greater importance; of course I'm more familiar with his many roles over the years than I was with a relatively newcomer, plus I always liked Lewis.
The panoramic views of the areas where the two movies were filmed make for an aspect that greatly enhance the viewing experience in both movies, in Vercors, France and in the Scottish Highlands; I really loved the cinematography in both; it's almost as if the panoramas were characters. The different climate or season of the year when the movies were made also allowed the director to take advantage of circumstances to provide interesting nuances; that, in addition to the more wordy French original and the colder English version (the 2017 was made in winter, the 2021 wasn't, ironically) made it worth it for me to see both.
The IMDb synopsis already mentions the plot revolves around the kidnaping of a young boy and the movie focuses much on finding the child and rescuing him; that alone provides a natural suspense element, but I dearly wished a bit more had been covered as to the motive of the kidnaping. We have to make do with inferences and a bare minimum to explain what it wasn't rather than what it was about; had this been a book of fiction I'd have thought it was incomplete, but I suppose elaborating on the motive in a 95 minute movie would have taken too much away from what the characters bring to the story. I enjoyed the movie(s) because I felt it draws you in and gets you involved psychologically, and I'm not even a father so I can just imagine how it will impact parents watching these movies. I liked the ending but I don't want to spoil it for you; I'll just say it(they) is(are) not a Hollywood sort of ending, but that's a good thing here, really is.
After seeing both movies and pondering as to why director Carion chose to remake the movie, I can only conclude that it was a very good idea. The English speaking audience can better relate to English actors in Scotland than it would with French ones in France, in my opinion. A dubbed version just would not deliver the same audience involvement in the story, and I can say this having seen both in their original format. I feel the same way about Spanish movies and series which I admit I need sub-titles to help me through as my Spanish leaves much to be desired. If you can get the French 2017 movie with English subs and get what I get with Spanish flics, and especially if you have the time, watch both.
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