Frantic
Sometimes only an act of desperation can take you to the truth. Frantic is a mystery that follows Dr. Richard Walker (Harrison Ford), who comes to Paris for a medical conference with his wife, Sondra (Betty Buckley). Just after they discover that Sondra's briefcase was mistakenly swapped with someone else's, she goes missing, and Richard's efforts to discover her through conventional channels proves fruitless. A proverbial trail of bread crumbs leads him to the lovely Michelle (Emmanuelle Seigner), a smuggler who accidentally grabbed the wrong suitcase at the airport, which in turn led to Sondra's abduction. The unlikely pair begrudgingly teams up to reclaim what belongs to them.
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The entirety of Frantic is set in Paris, France, although Dr. Walker is an American. Even from the start--even before Sondra is kidnapped--Richard Walker is like a fish out of water, in a country where he doesn't speak the language, and where he is dependent on others to protect and defend him. Most of us overlook this when we travel to another country; we have the illusion of security, because that country has civilized laws and a society like ours, with police and so on to make us feel safe. Richard talks of how he spent his honeymoon in Paris with his wife nearly twenty years prior, and in the taxi from the airport, Sondra asks Richard twice if he knows where he is. The truth is that to Richard, it doesn't really matter; he enjoys the same luxuries as an affluent and acclaimed doctor at home and abroad--the conference might as well take place anywhere. It's almost a burden that it takes place overseas, leaving him drained with jet lag and a language barrier. Dr. Richard Walker is a decent enough family man, but he is impatient. The audience will sympathize with Richard as it becomes increasingly clear that neither the police nor the American embassy is effective at helping him, more comfortable to resign him as just another bureaucratic statistic. Richard is no sleuth, but after he gets a clue from a tippler in a cafe, he concludes that a first-hand investigation is necessary to find Sondra; everyone else seems comfortable dismissing the possibility that she's been kidnapped, even implying she's being unfaithful. Richard's journey teaches him what he can do when stripped of the illusion of security posed by the police and the embassy, trusting people over institutions. Almost everything Richard experiences in Frantic deals with his success at adapting to the unexpected. At the start of the film, when his cab breaks down on the way from the airport, his predictable response is to wait for another cab to rescue him. Compare this with a later scene when a pair of thugs invade Michelle's apartment, and he disguises himself as her surprised lover, and it becomes clear how far Richard is willing to go to rescue the woman he loves.
The tension in Frantic begins to escalate after a strange call Sondra gets that leaves her disturbed while Richard is in the shower; when he comes out and is shaving, the buzzer rings again and again--that's when the audience (and Richard) knows deep down that something is wrong. Directed by Roman Polanski, Frantic excels at maintaining a level of paranoia and lingering sense of disquiet, in keeping with his more films like Rosemary's Baby and Repulsion. (Frantic "introduces" the alluring Emmanuelle Seigner; she and Polanski were married a short time after she gave her magnetic portrayal of Michelle.) Although Michelle is not introduced into the plot until about halfway in, she is the essential counterpoint to the high-strung Richard. She moves like a lithe, bohemian pixie, and unlike Richard, she does drugs, swears, dresses in provocative clothing, and is disorganized. Michelle is essentially the "Virgil" to Richard's "Dante" in this journey into the proverbial "inferno" of Paris' seedy underworld. Richard first gets the idea to visit the questionable night club dubbed the "Blue Parrot" after finding a matchbook in Michelle's suitcase, along with other assorted artifacts of hers. His efforts to ply drug dealers for information and investigate the apartment of Michelle's contact is dangerous, and it is luck that Richard didn't end up dead or in jail before encountering Michelle. Although the two of them couldn't be more different--and they don't even like one another at first--working together serves their mutual interests; in time, they even begin to rub off on one another. Richard becomes more adept at subterfuge and dealing with dangerous characters on his terms, and Michelle finds herself warming up to her American conspirator, and even trying to do the right thing when it counts. The two pieces of music which stand out in Frantic are themselves distinct and different from one another, almost as though they represent Richard and Michelle. The musical score by Ennio Morricone is dreamlike and wistful, and feels like it speaks to Richard's sense of being lost and helpless in a strange land. Conversely, the ubiquitous "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)" performed by Grace Jones is unquestionably Michelle's anthem, a song which oozes French mystique and seductiveness, but is also fresh and vibrant. Depictions of the Statue of Liberty in Frantic come across as ironic, because Michelle--for all her wild living--is never really free. She's always a pawn in someone else's game--from the terrorists who commissioned her to smuggle her treasure across the Atlantic to the drug dealers acting as middle men...even Walker uses her at first. Although Richard Walker is the protagonist of Frantic, Michelle is the real spirit of liberty in the film, threatened by the same indifferent forces which Richard loses faith in as his crisis concludes.
Recommended for: Fans of a sophisticated and tense thriller with two complex and interesting main characters. Watching Harrison Ford and Emmanuelle Seigner play off of one another's performance is exciting, and barely perceptible clues and details that hint at the mystery in Frantic make repeat viewings as equally entertaining as the first time.
The tension in Frantic begins to escalate after a strange call Sondra gets that leaves her disturbed while Richard is in the shower; when he comes out and is shaving, the buzzer rings again and again--that's when the audience (and Richard) knows deep down that something is wrong. Directed by Roman Polanski, Frantic excels at maintaining a level of paranoia and lingering sense of disquiet, in keeping with his more films like Rosemary's Baby and Repulsion. (Frantic "introduces" the alluring Emmanuelle Seigner; she and Polanski were married a short time after she gave her magnetic portrayal of Michelle.) Although Michelle is not introduced into the plot until about halfway in, she is the essential counterpoint to the high-strung Richard. She moves like a lithe, bohemian pixie, and unlike Richard, she does drugs, swears, dresses in provocative clothing, and is disorganized. Michelle is essentially the "Virgil" to Richard's "Dante" in this journey into the proverbial "inferno" of Paris' seedy underworld. Richard first gets the idea to visit the questionable night club dubbed the "Blue Parrot" after finding a matchbook in Michelle's suitcase, along with other assorted artifacts of hers. His efforts to ply drug dealers for information and investigate the apartment of Michelle's contact is dangerous, and it is luck that Richard didn't end up dead or in jail before encountering Michelle. Although the two of them couldn't be more different--and they don't even like one another at first--working together serves their mutual interests; in time, they even begin to rub off on one another. Richard becomes more adept at subterfuge and dealing with dangerous characters on his terms, and Michelle finds herself warming up to her American conspirator, and even trying to do the right thing when it counts. The two pieces of music which stand out in Frantic are themselves distinct and different from one another, almost as though they represent Richard and Michelle. The musical score by Ennio Morricone is dreamlike and wistful, and feels like it speaks to Richard's sense of being lost and helpless in a strange land. Conversely, the ubiquitous "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)" performed by Grace Jones is unquestionably Michelle's anthem, a song which oozes French mystique and seductiveness, but is also fresh and vibrant. Depictions of the Statue of Liberty in Frantic come across as ironic, because Michelle--for all her wild living--is never really free. She's always a pawn in someone else's game--from the terrorists who commissioned her to smuggle her treasure across the Atlantic to the drug dealers acting as middle men...even Walker uses her at first. Although Richard Walker is the protagonist of Frantic, Michelle is the real spirit of liberty in the film, threatened by the same indifferent forces which Richard loses faith in as his crisis concludes.
Recommended for: Fans of a sophisticated and tense thriller with two complex and interesting main characters. Watching Harrison Ford and Emmanuelle Seigner play off of one another's performance is exciting, and barely perceptible clues and details that hint at the mystery in Frantic make repeat viewings as equally entertaining as the first time.