Clevercell Very disappointing...

SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

valadas You will follow this movie with much attention and interest in terms of images and scenes but I must confess I have found the story itself in terms of contents a bit uninteresting since the plot has some coincidences that make it somewhat unbelievable. A couple is going to fetch their children who are at a summer camp in the south west of France. They are going by car from the north. The husband is a drunkard and he not only drank a lot already before their ride starts but he also keeps stopping now and then to have a drink on bars along the road. They begin to have fierce arguments between themselves and she ends up by leaving the car on one of his stops. He is bewildered when he comes back to the car and doesn't see her. She had left a note saying she was going to catch a train. From then on a succession of appalling incidents take place making the course of events very dramatic. It's a movie that keeps you attentive and alert all the time despite the fact that the plot itself is not very interesting.

robert-temple-1 We are all supposed to be shaking in our seats. After all, the director of this contrived and artificial piece of nonsense is confident that he has overwhelmed us with shock and horror. The problem is that nothing in the plot is remotely credible. Indeed, it is frankly impossible. Carole Bouquet and her husband are driving south from Paris and a convict has escaped from a prison. Husband and wife split up after a quarrel. One takes the train and the other drives. We are expected to believe that out of the sixty million people in France, the escaped convict on the same evening encounters only these two, separately! He rapes the wife on the train and tries to murder the husband in his car. He does these two things in separate places more or less at the same time. Surely this is carrying surrealism too far. Are we not entitled to the respect of some semblance of rationality in the plot of a film which is supposed to be a 'suspense' film? But it gets worse. The couple are supposed to be driving south to pick up their two children, aged 8 and 10, from summer camp. Despite this, they quarrel over nothing and the wife abandons the car. As for the husband, he has consumed several bottles of whiskey and numerous beers, is totally drunk, and is driving suicidally. What a way to pick up the kids! What is more astonishing is that we are meant to feel sympathy for the idiotic and irresponsible husband because, poor fellow, the convict whom he first approaches and then provokes turns on him. What a shame the convict didn't kill the useless twerp. What advanced state of decadence have the French media class entered now, when in film after film we are all expected to shed crocodile tears for despicable and loathsome characters? And this film was nominated for a prize at the Berlin Festival! What is going on? Has everybody gone completely raving mad? This film is not worth watching, and yet there are plenty of people around praising it. The characters are inhuman, and the plot is absurd. Somehow, somewhere, something very deep is going wrong with filmmakers in France, and their critics and festival juries. I called attention to this in my review of 'L'Enfant'. When the wholesome and delightful film 'Amelie' came out a few years ago, a chorus of French critics and media folk howled in protest about it and heaped abuse upon it in the press. There is a sickness, a deeply serious and growing sickness, amongst certain levels of the French media class. All sense of morality has been thrown overboard and a howling intolerance of anything wholesome arises from a baying pack of corrupt and arrogant media insiders. This is all very worrying for those like myself who love French culture and wish it to continue in some form which can continue to command some respect.

Mort-31 After "L'ennui", this was the second Cédric-Kahn-movie I have seen, and I found it great. Kahn proves himself a specialist on ridiculous men lacking self-confidence and absolutely inapt to retain some dignity in a modern world like this.The thriller plot, as stated by some earlier commentators, may be a little weak, especially as regards the "man on the run" (he is obviously taken directly from the Simenon novel but his character is neither fish nor foul). But this is not what it is all about. The thriller plot is merely an excuse to give a touching and disturbing portrayal of character Antoine (and his marriage).Let me answer to two of the "plot holes" discovered by two other commentators: Antoine's drinking does make sense; he drinks because of frustration and a minority complex for not feeling man enough in the presence of his successful wife. His drinking is a childish act of defiance, he is not a sensible grown-up, not a man (as he keeps repeating himself). And of course, he doesn't recall all these telephone numbers from his memory; as indicated with one of the first calls, he calls directory inquiries and has himself connected to the respective partner each time (remember, there is cuts between the various calls).Red Lights is a brilliant character study concealed as a masterpiece of suspense. Darroussin gives a touching performance in his role as hero and anti-hero at the same time. He is not particularly likable but still makes us feel sorry for him.The ending, which I am not going to reveal here, is stirring in a very subtle way because above all it raises the question how it is all going to go on.I like stories in which weird things happen out of character logic. This is a particular successful one.

markgorman Plot holes galore. the scene where the "hero" makes about 15 phone calls from memory(to places he's never heard of) is a bit dim really. But it's SO engaging. This is a really, really great movie. Brilliantly directed, superbly cast (one of the best cast movies I think I've ever seen). If the Kings of Leon acted they'd be fighting for the baddie part in this movie.Carol Bouquet is the older woman of everyone's dreams and the main man? Never seen him before. But I'm sure I will.Forget the plot holes. This movie is utterly brilliant.I saw it purely by chance on a rainy night in Liverpool. Proved to be a good one.