Quelques jours en septembre (2006)
Directed by Santiago Amigorena

Film Review

Screenwriter Santiago Amigorena makes his directorial debut with this bewildering mélange of film noir, romantic intrigue and political thriller.   It's an ambitious film for an inexperienced director, set for the most part in Venice and with an attractive cast headed by the bankable (and seemingly ageless) Juliette Binoche.  Stylistically, the film is instantly evocative of those great French political thrillers of the 1970s, with moody nocturnal photography and a crop of sinister characters conveying an all-pervading sense of hidden menace.  Unfortunately, the film's content isn't quite so appetising.

Ironically, given Amigorena's background as a writer, the film's Achilles' heel is its script, which is painfully lacking in plausibility.   The plot is a muddled (and virtually unfathomable) mess of loosely connected storylines, some of the characterisation is absurd (three of the five principal characters are natural born poets, including a psychopathic killer who can't help reciting William Blake's poetry) and much of the dialogue is quaintly unnatural.   Given that the story is set on the eve of the terrorist attacks on America on 11th September 2001, it's surprising that more isn't made of this, and in a far more thoughtful and intelligent way than the trite love/hate America dichotomy.

Ultimately, Quelques jours en septembre is a film with a severe crisis of identity - part slasher thriller, part romantic drama, part half-thought-through polemic on America's relationship with the world.  Whilst some elements of the film work remarkably well in isolation, they don't quite come together to make a satisfying whole.  It tries to cover too much ground in too small a space and ends up looking confused and a tad self-conscious. On the plus side, it is hard to fault the performances. Binoche is as mesmeric as ever, ably supported by rising star Sara Forestier, who received a César the previous year for her performance in Abdellatif Kechiche's L'Esquive (2003). The film is attractively shot and overall Amigorena's direction shows promise. The only thing that lets things down is a script that could clearly have benefited from two or three re-drafts.

Film Synopsis

In the first few days of September 2001, an American spy named Elliott goes into hiding and arranges a secret meeting with three people: the French agent Irène Montano, his adopted son David and his estranged daughter Orlando.  Unbeknown to Montano, Elliott has knowledge of a plot that will soon have worldwide repercussions.  What Elliott does not know is that he is to be the target of a ruthless hired killer...