Tristan (2003)
Directed by Philippe Harel

Film Review

Tristan is a skilfully crafted psychological thriller which would be hard to fault were it not for a plot which struggles in the plausibility stakes and is marred by an ending that feels rushed and a tad ridiculous. The film has little difficulty holding the spectator's attention but it is frustrating that the effort is not rewarded with a decent pay-off at the end.

Philippe Harel's assured direction does go some way to correcting for some of the deficiencies in the plot and there are some pleasing Hitchcockian touches along the way. This is Harel's first excursion into genre territory, his previous work consisting of an eclectic mix of comedies and dramas that includes Les Randonneurs (1997) and Extension du domaine de la lutte (1999).

Mathilde Seigner makes a convincing tough police inspector, uncompromising and spontaneous, although had she shown a softer, more vulnerable, side we might have felt more sympathy for her character.  Oddly, the supporting characters are better drawn and portrayed than the film's main character - from the mysterious Tristan to Emmanuelle's cosy parents, not to overlook Jean-Jacques Vanier's poignant portrayal of Emmanuelle's luckless assistant, Cadoret.  Some unexpected comic touches remind us that the film isn't to be taken too seriously, so the best way to appreciate this latest Harel offering is probably with one's tongue pressed firmly against one's cheek.

Film Synopsis

Emmanuelle Barsac, a young police commissioner, is distracted from her investigations into the Bulgarian mafia by the suicide of a young woman.  Before she died, the unfortunate woman was caught up in an intense love affair with a man who persuaded her to break all ties with her friends and family.  Soon after, Emmanuelle is alerted to a second suicide, with virtually identical circumstances to the first.  Both victims kept a diary in which the course of the romance appears identical, and each woman received a leather-bound copy of “Tristan and Iseult” from their fatal lover.  Convinced that a serial killer is at work, Emmanuelle begins her investigation, unaware that it may bring about her own destruction…