Chrysalis

Introduction

It's Paris, about 20 years from now. David Hoffman (Albert Dupontel) is a member of the elite European Police Force attempting to track down smuggler/killer Dimitri Nicolov (Alain Figlarz). Nicolov has killed Hoffman's partner, who also just happens to be his recently pregnant wife. Naturally he's a little hacked off with the Russian.

Hoffman is partnered with rookie Marie (Marie Guillard) when more bodies are found that have links to Nicolov. Hoffman likes to bend the rules and go for the jugular, which is kind of nice as Nicolov tends to do the same.


Meanwhile Professor Brügen (Marthe Keller) is trying to put her daughter Manon's (Mélanie Thierry) life and memories back together after the same kind of traffic accident that turned Michelle Ryan into the Bionic Woman. Brügen isn't interested in bionics though, just getting her daughter back to normal.

Everything is connected though and soon Brügen's and Hoffman's lives will intersect.

Visual

The cinematography by Thomas Hardmeier is superb, and this is certainly one of the best looking films I've seen in a long time. The atmosphere is cold and foreboding, the palette a dark black/blue. There's also a contrast between the nice shiny future of the clinic and the grimy future of the world outside. There are definitely shades of Blade Runner in the set design as well, particularly Hoffman's apartment.

Audio

Nice 5.1 Surround track that is only available in French with burnt in English subtitles. The music soundtrack is rather cool and electronic in tone with a splash of Dvorák that sounds sublime.

Extras

Trailer

Making Of - relatively interesting 25 minute piece that talks mostly about the look and feel of the piece rather than the usual Hollywood EPK. It's still fluff, just a cut above average fluff…

Overall

Chrysalis looks an amazing film, set just a couple of decades in the future, new director Julien Leclerq has created a fantastic futurescape that is just the right side of believable. Not too much has changed, it's the smaller technology that has improved rather than everything, and so as the shot of Paris shows, it's much the same bar a couple of Dubai-style buildings.

Unfortunately there's no point in style without substance, and this is where the film is a little lacking. The ideas are good but the execution is a little naïve. The script jumps a little too much, not helped by the dual narrative that splits this film, and there is relatively little exposition so you're kind of guessing what's going on instead of watching it unfold.

Not bad, certainly far better than the recently reviewed Jumper, but it could have been better. Ambitious but flawed.