Albert Dupontel uses a lot of his physical strength and agility as his role character Franck Adrien, sentenced to prison for armed robbery.
His 'wife' visits him in prison, taking with her their daughter, something he dislikes as he doesn't find the environment being edificatory for her and he doesn't want to meet her during these conditions. The mother answers: "She wanted to meet her father" whereby he replies: "If I'm her father".
He finds himself with a roomate - Jean-Louis Maurel (Stéphane Debac) - being accused for molesting and killing a child or a young girl and this evokes feelings of hate among the other convicts, as pedophiles are on the bottom of the prison hierarchy. The young bespectacled man, claims that he is innocent and he is sure that justice will be done, meaning that he will be able to leave the prison as a free man.
Three convicts, constituting the 'correctional force' in the prison, one day enter the cell - this made possible by one of the corrupt prison officers - and ask Franck to step outside.
He does so but when they start to rape and disgrace his roommate, seeing that the guards doesn't intervene, he enters the cell and starts to fight with the three men. The guards rushes to and of course it's Franck who is punished.
Maurel is released after being acquitted of the crimes he was accused of and when leaving he asks Franck if there is anything he can do for him, as he - rightfully(?) - feels that he owes him this after what he did for him when being attacked. Franck answers that he wants him to leave a message to his 'wife'. This message is coded and displays where Franck has hidden the money from his robbery.
However, Maurel is not the person Franck thought he was and this becomes clair when he is visited by a policeman from the 'fugitive' squad' - Manuel Carrega (Sergi López) - telling him what he knows about Maurel after having hunted him for years, trying to find evidence for the crimes he is suspected having committed. Maurel is - according to Carrega - a serial killer and now Franck becomes frightened, thinking of what might happen to his 'wife' and daughter.
After a 'showdown' with the 'interior correctional force' and their friends among the guards, Franck escapes, finds his 'wife' killed and his daughter missing, being held captived by Maurel and his wife, the latter desperately wanting a child and therefore cooperating with her husband in his deeds.
Franck is of course suspected of being the serial killer and the hunt begins: The police hunting Franck, Franck hunting Maurel and Carrega trying to help Franck.
It's a well composed story in the action genre, rapidly and effectevily told but the characters are somewhat to clichéd, not least the serial killer/pedophile.
Dupontel's character seems to be invulnerable, physically but mentally he's though much more vulnerable, not least as he struggles with the mea culpa-syndrome, though well deserved.
In spite of the serious matter in this film, it never actually haunts me and the person I despise most, is Maurel's wife Christine (Natacha Régnier). By not interfering with the deeds her husband commits, she becomes as culpable as him. Not least as she uses him for her own egoistic reasons.
The end is a real 'cliff-hanger'!!
In spite of some negative points, I can recommed this film if it's action and suspense you are looking for.
His 'wife' visits him in prison, taking with her their daughter, something he dislikes as he doesn't find the environment being edificatory for her and he doesn't want to meet her during these conditions. The mother answers: "She wanted to meet her father" whereby he replies: "If I'm her father".
He finds himself with a roomate - Jean-Louis Maurel (Stéphane Debac) - being accused for molesting and killing a child or a young girl and this evokes feelings of hate among the other convicts, as pedophiles are on the bottom of the prison hierarchy. The young bespectacled man, claims that he is innocent and he is sure that justice will be done, meaning that he will be able to leave the prison as a free man.
Three convicts, constituting the 'correctional force' in the prison, one day enter the cell - this made possible by one of the corrupt prison officers - and ask Franck to step outside.
He does so but when they start to rape and disgrace his roommate, seeing that the guards doesn't intervene, he enters the cell and starts to fight with the three men. The guards rushes to and of course it's Franck who is punished.
Maurel is released after being acquitted of the crimes he was accused of and when leaving he asks Franck if there is anything he can do for him, as he - rightfully(?) - feels that he owes him this after what he did for him when being attacked. Franck answers that he wants him to leave a message to his 'wife'. This message is coded and displays where Franck has hidden the money from his robbery.
However, Maurel is not the person Franck thought he was and this becomes clair when he is visited by a policeman from the 'fugitive' squad' - Manuel Carrega (Sergi López) - telling him what he knows about Maurel after having hunted him for years, trying to find evidence for the crimes he is suspected having committed. Maurel is - according to Carrega - a serial killer and now Franck becomes frightened, thinking of what might happen to his 'wife' and daughter.
After a 'showdown' with the 'interior correctional force' and their friends among the guards, Franck escapes, finds his 'wife' killed and his daughter missing, being held captived by Maurel and his wife, the latter desperately wanting a child and therefore cooperating with her husband in his deeds.
Franck is of course suspected of being the serial killer and the hunt begins: The police hunting Franck, Franck hunting Maurel and Carrega trying to help Franck.
It's a well composed story in the action genre, rapidly and effectevily told but the characters are somewhat to clichéd, not least the serial killer/pedophile.
Dupontel's character seems to be invulnerable, physically but mentally he's though much more vulnerable, not least as he struggles with the mea culpa-syndrome, though well deserved.
In spite of the serious matter in this film, it never actually haunts me and the person I despise most, is Maurel's wife Christine (Natacha Régnier). By not interfering with the deeds her husband commits, she becomes as culpable as him. Not least as she uses him for her own egoistic reasons.
The end is a real 'cliff-hanger'!!
In spite of some negative points, I can recommed this film if it's action and suspense you are looking for.
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