Benoît Poelvoorde & Roschdy Zem are two of the most interesting performers making films right now but they don't seem to inhabit the same universe and having emerging director Beauvais, from "Of Gods & Men", steer them though a film about ransoming Charlie Chaplin's body could have gone in any direction. For most of "La rançon de la gloire" the film 's tone is uneasy - a few giggles, a few surreal touches like Poelvoorde finding himself in the middle of a circus, lots of character development and a bit (not enough) of suspense.
Comes the trial climax and the defense convincing us that the lead duo are Chaplin characters pulls it all together. Nice touches - Michel Legrand on the 'phone to go with the clip of a TV "Demoiselles de Rochefort", the car snaking along the highway at night to the "Limelight" Theme, Zem and Mastroianni from Beauvais' first movie, Nour from "Caramel", the beautiful quality Chaplin clips, his great looking grand-daughter in person and Benoit and Noirjean doing the circus clown act I remember from the fifties, not to mention the snappy post titles gag.
