The Adversary

It' sad, It's Hard but is a nice movie, some times is touching but the leit motiv of the film is how can a man act all his life pretending to be another completely different person, and anyone could notice anything, that's bizarre. That's were the movie lacks a reason or a mixture of thoughts to express to explain how could it be.

Emmanuel Carrere's novels are chilling, desperate and very well told. This adaptation to screen by Nicole Garcia works pretty well. If it wasn't based on a true story, you'd think that it's silly and a bit too much. The movie certainly doesn't leave a happy feeling with you, it's hopeless and sad, in everyone's point of view. So the story is told in the beginning of the movie, in the matter of fact before to movie starts, but the point isn't that at all. Film is about what's going on inside Jean Claude Romand's (played by great Daniel Auteuil) head and life during the times before he murders everyone he knows. The music in L'Adversaire is by Angelo Badalamenti, one of my favorite composers (escpecially Twin Peaks -soundtrack), and it fits perfectly. Latest adaptation of Carrere's work is La Moustache and it's directed by himself

I must admit my French is a little rusty and I could have done with some subtitles so I was having trouble following the first half of the film on DVD. I borrowed it because I think Daniel Auteil is a good actor and had no idea what it was about except something about a man who lives a lie.

I watched it through to the end and recalled reading so many similar true stories in the last few years on cnn.com that I really got a shock by the end. As one of the scriptwriters comments in the extras on the French edition of the DVD says, "those scenes brought the film back into reality".

I found some of the editing a little jarring but perhaps that was intentional. It all makes sense in the end. Interestingly the producer - again, on the French edition of the DVD - said that she just wanted to follow the main character through his life without judging or diagnosing him, so perhaps those of you who know something about psychiatry will have a different perspective.

Stick with it, revel in the details of the film, and hug your family tightly afterwards.

This true story had already been told one year earlier, back in 2001, with L'EMPLOI DU TEMPS, a film that many viewers found less interesting than this one. Let me say that I don't agree at all. Both are outstanding films. Nicole Garcia's film and the Laurent Cantet's one. Here, Daniel Auteuil is purely awesome, but he is not alone, the whole result is engrossing, riveting, the perfect example of a flawless movie. Such a story has not been remade by the American film industry, at least as far as I know,, and that's very strange. I mean such a scheme has not been made before, but maybe I am wrong after all. A real must see. From a true story, I repeat. Chilling.

What a chilling experience, this terrific movie. Jean-Marc Faure's loneliness in conference halls and on the highway is so painful that it's hard not to feel compassion for him. All my credits to Auteuil and Garcia for this moving film. As you probably know, L'adversaire was based on a tragedy that truly happened some ten years ago. It didn't just inspire one, but two directors. The other film based on this story is L'emploi du temps, by Laurent Cantet. I watched it yesterday, and I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. Having read the very enthusiastic comments on this site, I expected a film of equal quality as L'adversaire but the latter outclassed it by far. I missed the palpable loneliness and desperateness in l'Adversaire, and Daniel Auteuil is in my opinion simply a more interesting and accomplished actor than Aurélien Recoing. If you haven't seen either of the films, I recommend you watch L'emploi du temps first, or just L'adversaire. It's always interesting to compare, but if you have already seen L'adversaire, you might be in for a little disappointment.