FAQ

The bullet-riddled body of an unidentified man (Matt Damon) is pulled from the Mediterranean Sea by the crew of an Italian fishing boat. With no memory of who he is or how he got there, he follows his only lead—a Swiss bank account number displayed by a miniature laser device extracted from his hip. He learns that his name is Jason Bourne and that, for some reason, he has a gun, a number of fake passports, and a large amount of cash. He soon finds out that he is being hunted by someone who wants to kill him. Aided only by his new friend, Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente), Bourne scours Paris for clues about his identity and why he's being hunted. He may not like what he finds.

The Bourne Identity (1980) was written by American author Robert Ludlum [1927-2001] and adapted for the screen by writers Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron. It is the first of four movies based on Ludlum's Bourne novels, the second being La mort dans la peau (2004) (2004), followed by La vengeance dans la peau (2007) (2007), La peur dans la peau: L'héritage de Bourne (2012) (2012) and Jason Bourne (2016) (2016). There was also a short-lived TV series The Bourne Identity (1988) (1988).

Bourne put them there himself for safe keeping so that he could get at them whenever he needs them, since he never knew where his next mission would take him.

Marie wanted a student visa, which would require a visit to the local US Embassy or consulate.

Franka Potente is German, and the character she plays—Marie Kreutz—is a German "gypsy" living in Zurich. When they are in Bourne's apartment, she is swearing in German. In the novel, she is French Canadian and her surname is St. Jacques.

Although based on the novel by Ludlum, the film excludes many backstories and subplots in the book. For instance, the novel's main antagonist-"Carlos", an elusive international assassin wanted for many high-profile assassinations-hunts for Bourne after realizing "Jason Bourne" is but a mere decoy created by the CIA (via "Treadstone 71") to draw him out in to the open. Plus, the book gradually reveals many facts about "Jason Bourne", who is finally uncovered as David Webb-a once foreign relations officer and expert of Far-East nations, whose family is killed by a stray bomber strafing the area. Unable to cope with the loss, he joins the covert paramilitary operation known as "Medusa". After "Medusa" is dissolved with the Vietnam War and its members unaccounted for, David Abbot (a CIA official involved with "Medusa" during Vietnam) recruits David Webb for his ultra-secretive, covert-ops unit "Treadstone 71". It is with Treadstone and under the aegis of Abbot that David Webb becomes "Jason Bourne"-the "new" assassin on the block challenging "Carlos". Unlike the movie, "Jason Bourne" was never an assassin-he was decoy, a counter-myth created by Treadstone to lure the elusive Carlos out into the open.

Of course, see The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatim—the initial sequels to The Bourne Identity. There are also the later sequels—The Bourne Legacy and Jason Bourne—Bourne being missing from the former. For other movies that feature other special agents facing deadly complications, try xXx (2002) (2002), in which an athlete is recruited by the government to infiltrate an underground Russian crime ring. In Le transporteur (2002) (2002) , an ex-special forces operator, now working as a goods transporter who asks no questions, breaks the rules and peeks at his latest cargo. There's Les trois jours du condor (1975) (1975), in which a CIA researcher must outwit hit men bent on killing him. In Souviens-toi Charlie (1996) (1996), lost memories of herself as a top-secret agent begin to surface in an ordinary housewife. In Bullitt (1968) (1968), a cop searches for the killers of a witness he was supposed to be protecting. Two cops attempt to intercept a big heroin shipment coming from France in La filière française (1971) (1971). Also recommended by those who have seen The Bourne Identity are the Jackal movies—Chacal (1973) (1973) and Le chacal (1997) (1997)—in which a professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" is sent on secret missions. Also consider the Ocean movies—L'inconnu de Las Vegas (2001) (2001), Le retour de Danny Ocean (2004) (2004), and Danny Ocean 13 (2007) (2007)—in which Danny Ocean and his team of gangsters attempt to pull off major heists, and any of the James Bond films. Finally, you can check out L'Enlèvement (2008) (2009), another excellent thriller filmed partially in Paris, or the Mission Impossible film series (1996–).