jsrobinson132

The first episode got me hooked. I really enjoyed the major plot lines and the casting of the main characters along with their secondary cohorts, but unfortunately, the more the series progressed, the more disappointed I became.

Having two careers that encompassed both the film world, as an assistant editor, and sitting in court proceedings listening to evidence and police procedures for hours on end as a court reporter, there were huge holes in both.

Continuity was lacking, the script often didn't make sense and was too corny or over-the-top in 'telling' rather than 'showing', several of the extras over-dramatised their scenes, there should've been more research done into police work and procedures, and as usual with a lot of North American drama, any true action was way over the top.

Directors and producers could learn a lot from the majority of their British, European and Australian counterparts, as subtle can often be more real and certainly more believable. Everyday storylines in TV series and movies should be as close to real life when it comes to reactions and dialogue; they don't need to be overly done as a way to drag viewers in.

I will watch the next series because I'm now invested in the main characters, but I really hope they focus more on making scenes more true-to-life and acting that's believable from guest characters.

One movie I'll never waste time watching again. It's almost as boring as Man of La Mancha as it was terribly slow - worse than watching a snail crawling up a wall - made no sense whatsoever and had the weirdest ending set in a toilet with a man taking a leak! That's not a spoiler as I haven't said what else was going on, but it just left everything up in the air... The only positives I can think of was that firstly the two main actors are normally ones I enjoy watching (Juliet Binoche is her usual stunning self, but unfortunately playing a highly unlikeable character), and unfortunately every skerrick of their interaction was painful and monotonous - mainly consisting of pretentious, boring or confusing dialogue. The second positive is that it was set in Italy - Tuscany especially - as it brought back wonderful memories of walking some of those same streets, and so I enjoyed the scenery and architecturally-exquisite towns, but that's about it - oh, and hearing them fluctuate between the two lyrical languages of French and Italian - that only just made it bearable as long as you didn't actually try to understand the convoluted dialogue! And I still have no idea whether the storyline between the two main characters was fantasy or true.

Well that was a waste of two hours of my life. The plot itself has so much potential, and the cast do a great job with a frustrating script, but the unresolved ending leaves viewers feeling frustrated and let down. What was the hidden agenda of the title, and why would you go to so much trouble setting up a mystery, that never gets explained.

Something else that leaves at least this Aussie viewer frustrated, is how drawn out so many of the scenes are. The creative team - or at least the director and editor - must've had a huge budget and wanted to draw out the suspense for countless minutes over and over again, but those wasted minutes were more frustrating than enlightening - especially the final farmhouse scene, and the long drawn out finale without including even one member from the main cast in either one.

As a former assistant editor, I do not understand why so many frames of nothingness are wasted in so many European films. The costs have to be astronomical and the backers/producers must have more money than sense, especially when there is no hint whatsoever as to the reason behind the plot. A most unsatisfactory conclusion to what could've been a fabulous thriller.

This movie was more frustrating than entertaining, which is such a shame as the main leads are two of my favourite French actors.