Möbius

The performances that is! A good story, that gets a bit slowed down by some flashbacks. Dujardin and De France are a pair that ignites more than just a fire. And it translates to the screen. As the director was saying in the interview, the main thing was to make that relationship work and it does work.

The story with an international cast and many languages spoken (english, french, Russian ...) might feel overloaded at times, but it still works because of the actors involved in it. The fact you are involved with the characters only heightens the tension that the movie portrays. Not really that many action scenes (one fight scene in particular stands out), but the thrill of it still works.

We went to see Mobius on it's first evening showing in our local movie theater. We were pleasantly surprised by an interesting spy movie with contemporary plot.

First the good parts: The movie is filmed very very well - with excellent editing and beautiful outside shots in Monaco and Moskva. The acting is excellent and the plot has more than a few twists and enough mystery to keep you interested.

The only thing I was sure, was that being Russian - no one would be happy in the end and without spoiling the plot - you will not be disappointed from that aspect.

The not so good parts The movie is a bit slow moving and the dialog could have been crisper. The co-star's English was noticeably French-accented and not American which took away from the credibility of the character. The director could have done a better job on the Americans; the American CIA characters were stereotypical and portrayed in a way that I imagine many Europeans visualize Americans.

Actress Cécile De France and Oscar Best Actor 2011 Winner Jean Dujardin both played in the French film "Möbius (2013)". Their love making scene in this film just looked so realistically beautiful. Cécile De France played the heroine who enjoyed sex to the extreme with her subtle facial reactions responding to every movement, while Jean Dujardin focused on her face silently yet so intensely. The scene played so serenely beautiful, showing the big difference from a bad porno film.

The whole process from when he sat in the night club spotting her came in with Tim Roth, to she approached him after she spotted him looking at her, then to the sudden return after she left, then to the bar scene where they drank and talked, then to the bed making love. the whole segment was one of the best directed and performed what a good movie should and could be.

By viewing this almost lifelike performance in an unreal visual drama, you would learn how really good actors could perform, especially those French actors.

This is an intricate bittersweet drama and love story much more than it is an action/adventure or thriller. The pacing is methodical and consistent while the production value is quite high, with excellent cinematography and really well laid out interior and exterior scenes. It paints a captivating portrait of high risk banking and espionage just as it does Monaco and Moscow.

The acting is good with a well rounded cast. There was one odd and weird sequence of close up facial shots, but other than that I found the film quite compelling and even moving, with few flaws.

If you are looking for explosions, car chases and gun fights look elsewhere. Watch this film if you want to be immersed in a human story draped in exotic locales and professions.

For a change, it is eventful to watch non-Hollywood type of thriller, with more mind-twists and less chases or killings. Romantic angle is usually proper as well, especially among the French and by talented actors like Jean Dujardin and Cécile de France, but the film in question became too wistful and tensions faded away even where appropriate... True, the chemistry between them was pleasant and erotic scenes added "French touch" but - as mentioned - one could easily forget the background with at least 3 secret services striving for getting their aims fulfilled.

Moreover, the story became too complex as well at times, but what I liked was multiple solutions in the ending, and the very final scene provides food for thought. The use of Russian actors was good (as it is a Russian-French film), however, the contrast of pure Russian spoken by them and that by Dujardin and Tim Roth (depicting Russian gangster Rostovsky) became too obvious.

Nevertheless, if you like calm spy films, then Möbius is more than an entertainment.