Pacto de Silêncio

In "Le Pacte du silence", Depardieu is a priest and a physician who is sent to tend to a beautiful young nun (Bouchez) who is suffering from abdominal pain. When he finds no cause for the pain and learns the nun's history and order are cloaked in secrecy he becomes suspicious and commits himself to unraveling the mystery behind the nun and her affliction. What ensues is a convoluted mess of a story which involves murder, voodoo, sympathetic physical manifestations, tragedy, and love. Though the film manages to sort itself out in the end and both Depardieu and Bouchez register solid performances, the story is obviously concocted, as difficult to follow as it is to swallow, and not as suspenseful as the musical score would have us believe. A so-so watch now on broadcast which will work best for Depardieu fans into mysteries involving the paranormal. (B-)

I'm not sure why the Mill Creek Entertainment company decided to re release this horrible movie but it's not even worth the price of a ticket. Everything's foreign and not much action at all. All talk and hardly no action. Tonight it will face The Quiet. I'm don't even like the main actors as they cannot bring good enough performances to the screen.

It is hard to believe how such good premises can lead to a poor film. The idea of the film is very good, although not completely original. A priest and doctor treats a nun, who is sick, and we can see soon that her sickness has para-normal causes. In fact, she is twin in fate (and health maybe) with her real twin sister who serves term for a childhood murder. Without entering further details, the confusion and inter-melding in the lives of the two could be the start of a very strong psychological and/or horror movie. Reality and dream, hidden relations between the twins, secrets of the past poisoning the present, a priest fighting to keep his faith - all these are good themes getting a poor treatment. The film also stars the mega-star of the French cinema Gerard Depardieu, as well as a very gifted actress Élodie Bouchez in the double role of the twins. The problem is that the film is that badly directed, that the viewer has to fight all the time with the confusion of the action, instead of being able to focus on the psychological development. In this case the European style of filming in realistic shots makes a de-service to the movie. The Hollywood re-make if it will come one day may be much better. 5/10 on my personal scale.

A little surprised about some of the negative comments this little gem has received. Still we all have different tastes and expectations.

Personally I found this a delightful film to participate in - yes nearly everything is 'telegraphed' and the mid-story turn points and ending are highly predictable.

It's a story simply told, well acted and directed. I would even go as far to say that you could watch this film in its native language with little or no knowledge of French and without using subtitles* and understand it all.

* The English translation is particularly good and uses common expression rather than the more formal in keeping with the original dialogue - thus it tends to be more European English than American English.

Like a lot of European films it is filmed as a snapshot of real life - at no time do you have to suspend your belief. The story is simply an amalgam of real documented events.

If you like films crafted as Art then this will probably appeal to you. Switch of the phone, put the kids to bed, open a bottle of red wine and chill-out.

The soundtrack is particularly good and cues the emotions and actions perfectly.

Watch the film to its real end. - Under the end credits.

I'm not sure why the Mill Creek Entertainment DVD company decided that this obscurity was worth a re-release on DVD, nor do I know why they put it in a 4 movie collection labelled "Hollywood Hits" - it's a French movie! All that aside, I thought that the movie was a pretty big disappointment. I guess the acting is okay, and the foreign settings give it a novel backdrop. Also, it does make you curious as to how it will end. But the movie is very confusing at times, playing out like it started at chapter two or three instead of the very beginning. As for the ending, I have to admit that I found it very unsatisfying - it's confusing as well. It doesn't help things much that the movie often has a flat and cheap look you would associate with a modestly budgeted European television show, so it's no surprise that the credits reveal that one of the participating companies was TF1. Though TF1 is a major French television network, this production is definitely minor in league.