l’aveugle (2012)

Directed by: Xavier Palud | 94 minutes | action, thriller | Actors: Jacques Gamblin, Lambert Wilson, Raphaëlle Agogué, Arnaud Cosson, Antoine Levannier, Frédéric Kontogom, David Capelle, Marie Vincent, Nicholas Grandhomme, Nathalie Vignes, Pascal Demolon, Moïse Santamaria, Nicolas Pignon, Elsa Kikoïne, Daniel Lobé, François Lescurat, Miglen Mirtchev, Arthur Moncla, Yaniss Lespert, Agnès Delachair, Sebastien Vandenberghe, Omar Salim, Martine Bertrand, Hélène Roussel, Colette Kraffe, Dorothée Brière, Rémy Le Fur

Luc Besson is brimming with ideas. Sometimes the man behind ‘Léon’ (1994) and ‘The Fifth Element’ (1997) elaborates these himself, but it also happens that he gives them to a colleague as a present. For example, director Xavier Palud (‘Ils’, 2006) and screenwriter Eric Besnard (‘Babylon AD’, 2008) were allowed to indulge in Besson’s idea of ​​a police thriller about a worn-out detective who, while solving a murder, encounters a very remarkable prime suspect. . A war veteran can of course have dark streaks, but the man who has the detective in his sights is completely blind. ‘À l’aveugle’ (2012), released internationally under the name ‘Blind Man’, has a lot to offer on paper. In practice, however, this lackluster French thriller fails to deliver on that promise.

Paris is ravaged by a murderer in ‘À l’aveugle’. A young woman is chopped to pieces and Detective Lassalle (Jacques Gamblin) sees a serious suspect in her addicted ex-boyfriend. When a businessman is blown up by a car bomb at a charity auction the next day, Lassalle discovers that the two murders are connected. He discovers that an eccentric, mysterious blind piano tuner named Narvik (Lambert Wilson) has a bond with both victims. Narvik has served as a soldier in Afghanistan and his war history seems to have left a big mark on his life. Lassalle’s task is to track down this elusive man, but it turns out not to be that easy. He gets little response at the office. Only his young colleague Hëloise (Raphaelle Agogue) supports him, but she secretly has a crush on him. In addition, Narvik doesn’t seem to want to pay for the murders.

‘À l’aveugle’ could have been a thrilling action thriller, if it weren’t for the lack of tension and the action scenes kept to a minimum. Moreover, the story is rather unbelievable and is – certainly by Wilson – delivered without any spice. Narvik is supposed to instill fear, but in fact never really comes to life. Wilson is so wooden and expressionless that he looks like a machine. Fortunately, Gamblin does play a human character, but we’ve seen the tired and tired detective who lives for nothing more than his work. Besnard’s screenplay is another weak spot in the film: apparently the murder mystery in itself was not compelling enough, that he found it necessary to add a context of dubious arms trade that makes the story unnecessarily complex. A rare plus is the photography of Michel Amathieu, who is not bad at all, but unfortunately does not manage to take the otherwise unuplifting film to a higher level. You can expect better from a film to which Luc Besson connects his name than this saltless thriller.