NEXT TIME I’LL AIM FOR THE HEART / La Prochaine fois je viserai le cœur

 

West Coast Premiere • Thriller • France, 2014

DCP • 2.35 • Dolby 5.1 • Color • 111 min

Directed by: Cédric Anger

Written by: Cédric Anger

Based on the book by: Yvan Stefanovitch

Cinematography: Thomas Hardmeier

Film Editing: Julien Leloup

Original Score: Grégoire Hetzel

Produced by: Anne Rapczyk (Sunrise Films), Alain Attal (Les Productions du Trésor)

Cast: Guillaume Canet (Franck), Ana Girardot (Sophie), Jean-Yves Berteloot (Lacombe), Patrick Azam (Tonton)  

International Sales: Kinology

 

Consider the case of Franck Neuhart, aka the “Oise Killer” – a monster that terrorizes a region north of Paris in 1978. He begins by running girls over with his car, young girls, the ones who excite him. He graduates to gunning down hitchhikers at random. He can’t be caught. He is everywhere and nowhere. He is cold, meticulous, brilliant. He is also a policeman. A model officer assigned to solve his own murders. Based on the real-life Alain Lamare, Franck is portrayed by Guillaume Canet in a performance memorable for its chilling understatement. Set in a grainy winter landscape, this matter-of-fact tale walks us through the daily life of Franck without any pretense to psychological insights, focusing instead on the suspense of the situation. The result is a maddeningly tense thriller with a masterful touch.

 

French tabloid stories set in the 70’s might seem niche, but writer/director Cédric Anger has worked on two such films this year, both presented at COLCOA 2015. Anger was co-writer on André Téchiné’s In The Name Of My Daughter, which, perhaps not coincidentally, also stars Guillaume Canet. A former Cahiers du Cinema critic, Anger specializes in genre pictures, having debuted with the intriguing thriller The Killer (COLCOA 2008), followed by the Benoît Magimel vehicle The Counsel in 2010. One of the rare French filmmakers who can lay claim to a separate screenwriting career, Anger has collaborated on scripts for Xavier Beauvois and Werner Schroeter. He is currently penning a new screenplay for My Way (COLCOA 2013) director Florent-Emilio Siri.

 

Quotes:

“A masterpiece that you’ll talk about for endless hours afterwards.”

- Didier Becu PEEK-A-BOO MAGAZINE

“Offers up a strong central turn from Guillaume Canet while dishing out a number of crafty and suspenseful set-pieces.”

- Jordan Mintzer HOLLYWOOD REPORTER