The Chameleon

We can never be sure about dramatised true stories because tricks are played on our memories even as we try to retell with accuracy. This story of a character who is unlikely to be who he claims to be from the start is as much about doubts as it is about rebuilding hopes. From the opening shots of a body hunt through to the final frames this film attempts to tackle the driving forces of all the characters who make up the plot by showing up flaws and how all of us are sometimes drawn to papering over cracks in our thoughts.

The film is quite clever in raising doubt in our minds because every player seems flawed from Fortin/Randall (Grondin), through Kimberly (Barkin), to Johnson (Janssen) as an FBI agent who seems to have no doubts. Perhaps a clumsy unevenness in the screenplay sometimes makes following the story a little less taut than it should be, but I could not fault the quality of the acting.

Even a family torn apart by an undisclosed tragedy seem very adept at keeping things as they are when redemption is a possibility but the actual interaction between them is not well rehearsed in this script. Too much focus is perhaps played on the mother's relationship with her "son" when there was perhaps a lot of mileage elsewhere.

I would guess many people would want a more commercial ending to a film like this and that has probably detracted from it popularity since it does stick to events as they happened but for me the real let down, having such a great cast, was a failure to grasp the real guts of the story and perhaps reveal a little more of what really may have happened.

Seven out of ten for acting from a fine cast.

(2010) The Chameleon PSYCHOLOGICAL MYSTERY DRAMA

It says right at the beginning that it's based on a true story, but when you watch it, it's just as tediously pointless despite showing some well known actors. It opens the movie in France, with a police car stopping on the middle of a freeway, after seeing a young man encroached naked while on the middle of the road. And after the police requested for his name, he then tells them that he'd been abducted as well as molested without giving any more details regarding who it was and where did it happen. And then tells them that his real name is Nicholas Mark Randall, who was abducted from a family who'd been reported missing while he was living in Louisiana. And he's first greeted by his older sister who assumed the person she was hugging was really his missing brother. And it was at that point, it's called "The Chameleon" for a reason as we get to witness the affect his return has on this particular family of nobody's with Famke Janson as police investigator, Jennifer Johnson having her doubts about who he is he really. After the film is over, the movie left with many unanswered questions filling the void by using many over abundance crying heartaches and arguing. You can tell a movie is bad is when viewers are able to use a fast forward button on some of the scenes while playing, and still be able to tell what's going on.

When the fiction is more unsatisfying than the real life, then you're in a big trouble. "The Chameleon" is a weak film because it fails to generate interest in a real life story that has all the elements that could make into a great project. The director made questions he couldn't answer and we couldn't figure out possible reasons for all what happened in the events surrounding a young French (Marc-André Grondin) who claims to be the disappeared son of a poor American family, "returning" to his home after being kidnapped and taken to Europe. The problem is that it's obvious that some members of the family know that this French accented guy can't be Nicky, but they continue with this game until an FBI agent (Famke Janssen) get suspicious about this sudden reappearance.

Its cheap insistence in creating a mystery bigger than the one existing just doesn't work, with the skeletons in the family's closet with people who knew about the kid's real fate, like his older brother (Nick Stahl). And we are easily bothered by the lack of choices, lack of ways for the story to move in a proper manner. A movie like this can't dwell in the psychology involving the main character, therefore we'll never understand the reasoning behind the boy's staying with people who don't care about him. Why the hell he'd trade his erroneous life in France by shooting in the dark with a strange and careless American family, or why he didn't run away from this family he adopted, a bunch of people who wouldn't provide for him with anything? He's not getting much by staying there, no indicative that he's winning something.

The cast tries a little bit harder than what the script can offer to them make something worthy of our attention. Grondin is a fine actor as evidenced in "C.R.A.Z.Y." but here there's only glimpses of that actor, his duality of angelical innocence with some darker traits is relatively good; Janssen was pretty decent and the more her character progress the more we like her, same goes with Emile De Ravin and Brian Geraghty, doing their best; Ellen Barkin was distractive while trying to be exceptional as the mother.

As a drama, it's not as compelling as the plot sounds and could be; as a thriller is just dull and worthless. Bits of decent acting aren't enough to make it tolerable or watchable. 4/10

The Chameleon is not as good as The Imposter, but still this movie is pretty clever. Actually, it gives you more doubts than documentary, cause it does not much follow the line of real story. The Imposter mostly concentrates on actions of Frédéric Fortin, on crimes he's committed and leaves Randall family beyond the interest. However, the movie itself is more complex giving a closer look to every character.

Writers did a great job mixing documented material with fiction one. They clearly show development of main characters after Nicholas's comeback. The script makes you concentrate on three topics: first is Frédéric (or Nicholas) who is kind of shocked as he is introduced to family members closer. As time goes by, he understands that he came in "wrong" place, because they are definitely making his life worse. Every new family, Frédéric has "returned" to before, welcomed him, made him feel comfortable, but not Randalls, because they have their reasons, why Nicholas should not be back.

Another story is how FBI thinks of this sudden appearance of kidnapped child. Famke Jensen is the only agent who does not believe in any words of Nicholas and his family. Therefore, she decides to hold an inquiry independently. This investigations lead us to the third story, which is story of Randall family itself.

They seem to be not that happy by arrival of long lost child. But still they have no doubt that he, whoever came back, is their little boy and that is why they refused to do a DNA test, or cooperate with police. They know something that is hidden from everyone.

These three stories make a superb and horribly interesting movie. Potentially, The Chameleon could be far more better film, because it can easily attract one's attention, thrill you and make you wanting more about this topic. But still I found it average. Mostly the reason is pure directing and acting. I believe that this film could be more engaging and powerful if Jean-Paul Salome had worked more on visualization of whole idea. The camera-work and acting panel could be better and yes! this kid of movie really needs better actors. The only performance I enjoyed was Emilie de Ravin as a sister of Nicholas. I have never seen Marc-André Grondin (Frederic, Nicholas) before and I think he was not the best choice for the role.

The biggest dignity of The Chameleon is that in the final scenes, it almost clearly shows what really happened to real Nicholas Mark Randall

What can you say about a film with multiple producers from different cultures and with diverse points of view, who finally mutilated it to accommodate their interests? Obviously, Canadians, French and Americans do not have the same notion of cinema. The "globalized entrepreneurs" apparently did and, in this case, "won." It's no wonder director Jean-Paul Salomé claims that the film was altered from its original conception.

This is neither a detective film, nor a crime thriller. It is a drama about identity, about deprivation of love, about moralistic justice, which illustrates the damage done to all children abandoned by parents who, to begin with, should never have had them. Based on real events, "The Chameleon" adapts a chapter in the life of Frédéric Bourdin, a French citizen abandoned by his Algerian father and French mother, nicknamed Chameleon by the press, for his notorious adoption of hundreds of false identities in various European countries, and for sneaking into several homes, posing as a missing relative. It was proven that there was no sexual deviation or economic motive in his actions: he was only looking for affection.

However, Frédéric had the bad idea of posing as a missing Texan teenager. This is how he managed to be "repatriated" to the United States, to be accommodated by the child's dysfunctional family (in the film, a proletarian, violent, heroin-addicted brother and mother, plus a sister who denies the truth), and that television and the police would doubt his identity, until they identified him and put him through a "moralizing" trial, in which he was given six years in prison, instead of the three established by law in such a case.

According to the tone and treatment of the filmed material, Salomé (director of "Belphegor", "Arsene Lupine" and "La daronne") and his co-screenwriter Natalie Carter had the purpose of observing and analyzing the events. Then the editor Toby Yates (son of Peter Yates, director of the action thriller "Bullitt") came on the scene and reissued the movie, so we do not know what the original 106-minute proposal was.

However, with everything that could be argued against it, I saw an honest and moving film, slow and inquisitive, with good performances from the cast. Not everything has to be extraordinary or Hollywood-style. The world is wide and open, the intimate or public exposition of human drama varies according to cultures and its appreciation is suitable for many readings and interpretations.