Sans laisser de traces

Sans laisser de traces
Directed by Grégoire Vigneron
Produced by Marc Missonnier
Olivier Delbosc
Written by Laurent Tirard
Grégoire Vigneron
Starring Benoît Magimel
Julie Gayet
François-Xavier Demaison
Narrated by Benoît Magimel
Music by Christophe La Pinta
Cinematography Laurent Dailland
Edited by Valerie Deseine
Production
company
Fidélité Films
Scope Pictures[1]
Distributed by Cineart
Mars Distribution[2]
Wild Bunch[3]
Mongrel Media
Release dates
 10 March 2010
Running time
 95 minutes
Country France
Belgium
Language French
English
Box office $1,160,447[4]

Sans laisser de traces (also known as Immaculate, Traceless, Indelible and Indélébile[5]) is a 2010 French Crime film and Grégoire Vigneron's directorial debut.[6][7]

Plot

Etienne is about to succeed his father-in-law as CEO of a French company which employs 15;000 people. Some days after they have discussed their according speeches, Etienne also learns that his beautiful wife has finally become pregnant. In spite of his apparently being so lucky, Etienne is haunted by nightmares.
When Etienne runs into an old school friend, he doesn't recognise him immediately but soon they become again familiar. Patrick is unemployed and admires Etienne for his achievements. Etienne has hereby found somebody with whom he dares to share his secret: Etienne's career only took off because he stole a chemical formula from an unknown inventor 15 years ago.
Patrick persuades Etienne he could fix everything retroactively if he met the inventor and spoke to him. Unfortunately the man reacts in way neither of the two friends anticipated. Overwhelmed by wrath he is determined to destroy Etienne's life by suing him and eventually he poses even physically threatening. Trying to protect his friend Patrick accidentally kills the man. It is also Patrick who decides for both of them to conceal what just happened.
Etienne pays Patrick 30,000 Euros in order to get rid of him. But Patrick spends his new money on a prostitute and gets in trouble when he claims she had stolen from him. After Etienne has bailed him out he prepares to send Patrick far away. He creates a well-paid job for him in Singapore. On his way there Patrick gets arrested at the airport for smuggling drugs and his finger prints are taken. They match the fingerprints which were found at the crime scene.
Patrick blackmails Etienne, demanding 3 million Euros. Etienne cannot get the sum together. Subsequently he decides to turn himself in.

Cast

Reception

Iwan Pranowo of Movielogy.com evaluated Sans laisser de traces as a "nice surprise" but also belittled it as merely a French version of Match Point.[8] Jordan Mintzer of Variety derided the film as "a paint-by-numbers tale of greed, betrayal and seduction" which was "marginally saved by first-rate acting and production values" [9]

DVD Release

A French version with English subtitles has been published by Mongrel Media in 2010.[10][11]

References

  1. ↑ "Associate production company : Fidélité Films, Foreign production company : Scope Pictures". Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  2. ↑ "Sans laisser de traces". Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  3. ↑ "Immaculate". Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  4. ↑ http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=11137
  5. ↑ "Alternate title: Indelible, Traceless, Indélébile, Immaculate". Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  6. ↑ "This cleverly scripted tale of greed, betrayal and seduction is the directorial debut of veteran scriptwriter and master of suspense Gregoire Vigneron (Le petit Nicolas).". Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  7. ↑ "He made his first feature film as a director in 2010 – Immaculate / Sans laisser de traces". Retrieved 2012-11-08.
  8. ↑ "This movie here is really a nice surprise. Although actually, if I'm to be very critical about it, I would call Traceless as unashamed rip-off/copycat of a Woody Allen's Match Point (2005) which features Scarlett Johansson and won the Academy Award 2006 for Best Original Screenplay!". Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  9. ↑ "a paint-by-numbers tale of greed, betrayal and seduction that's only marginally saved by first-rate acting and production values". Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  10. ↑ "Immaculate (Sans Laisser de Traces) - A film by Grégoire Vigneron". Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  11. ↑ "Language Note: In French with optional English subtitles.". Retrieved 2013-01-07.

External links