Anything for Her

As soon as the summer blockbusters arrive, a stream of French films arrive in their wake. In the past couple of years, the most impressive have been muscular thrillers. While these might not end up being the best films of the year, they usually have a satisfying grittiness and an equally appealing "ordinary", mature cast. The leading men are those typically French plain-but-actually-handsome actors such as Francois Cluzet or Daniel Auteuil, the kind you would NEVER find as leads in American films. The women are admittedly classier, but with luck might have more to do than simply stand around looking decorative and/or helpless. Anything for Her is no more plausible than, say, Tell No One and Julien likewise gets increasingly battered and bloodied as the film progresses. As the title suggests, this is a man who will do anything to get his suicidal wife out of jail. He becomes increasingly secretive and taciturn; his flat gradually empties of all furniture and belongings; his work is no longer teaching high school students but accumulating the information required to plan the perfect jail break and escape. I can't help but think that the premise would be even more intriguing if Lisa's innocence hadn't been established - at least for the viewer - quite so early. Some of the Julien's family clearly have their doubts about whether she committed the murder but never Julien himself. He believes wholeheartedly in her innocence, hence his extreme actions to free this innocent woman. If there had been doubt in the mind of the audience, the steps that he takes, and the lives it costs (which include one riff on a scene from Reservoir Dogs) would have left the viewer feeling deeply uneasy. As it is, there's a sense that his actions are all ultimately justified.