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Most non-English-language films that find their way to American shores are serious dramas angling for Oscar nominations, are genre pictures trying to capitalize on the latest fads, or feature Gerard Depardieu. There´s nothing wrong with Oscar nominations, trendiness, or Monsieur Depardieu, but these releases give Americans a skewed view of foreign cinema. That´s why the average person tends to think of foreign films as "artsy-fartsy" or "weird" or "kinky". The reality of the situation is that each country produces its share of good and bad movies, high-minded and low-brow ones, elite and mainstream. In 2001, the French flooded their movie theatres to see "Le Pacte des Loups", a populist period piece with an infusion of martial arts sensibilities and a healthy dose of the supernatural. The French love over-the-top action movies as much as Americans do after all.
Marketed to American audiences as "Brotherhood of the Wolf", the film finds its inspiration in a true story. In 1764, a wild beast began attacking people in the French countryside. Rumors began circulating, and the beast gained quasi-mythological stature. "Le Pacte..." flirts with history and the possibly supernatural status of the beast, but it adds its own interpretations and twists to the collection of legends.
In "Le Pacte...", the king of France dispatches his chief naturalist and taxidermist, Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan), to kill the wild beast. Having fought in the French and Indian Wars (known as part of the 100-Years War in Europe) in the Americas, Fronsac brings with him Mani (Mark Dacascos), his Native American blood brother. Everyone guesses that the creature is a larger-than-average wolf, but Fronsac and Mani deduce from the evidence that there is more to the beast than just a normal animal run amok.
Young Marquis Thomas d´Apcher (Jérémie Rénier, who makes a great impression with a supporting role) joins the 2 heroes in their quest. A pair of ladies influence the narrative´s thematics as well. There´s Marianne (Emilie Dequenne), a young aristocrat who persuades Fronsac to abandon his playboy-lifestyle. There´s Sylvia (Monica Bellucci of "Malena" fame), an Italian prostitute who describes herself as someone simply passing through France. Marianne´s haughty brother, Jean-François (Vincent Cassel), is torn between joining Fronsac´s mission and the jealousy that he feels as he watches his sister fall in love with the worldly chevalier ("knight").
The less said about the plot, the better for those of you who have not seen the film. Part of the pleasure of watching "Le Pacte..." is to share in the characters´ investigative efforts. Universal´s trailer for the film looks like a Westernized kung fu movie, but the fight scenes are simply just well-choreographed action set pieces. Some have described the movie as a French "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", but it´s closer to Michael Mann´s "The Last of the Mohicans" in epic spirit and to "From Hell" in its depiction of a secret society seeking to prevent modernity from making the old order obsolete.
It´s easy to see why the French took such a shine to the movie. Stylishly photographed and edited, "Le Pacte..." has rich visuals designed to seduce viewers. The smell of intrigue created by the film´s atmosphere is very different from the usual, routine action flick, and the forceful Le Bihan commands the screen like a big star. The film also offers much romanticism, from the charming love story that develops between Fronsac and Marianne and the bond of adventurousness that forms between Fronsac, Mani, and Thomas to the mysticism of the Catholic Church and the archetype of lonely travelers who are never really "at home" unless they´re away from it.
However, the film bites off more than it can chew. There are at least 3 introductions during the first 5 minutes of the movie, including one with a woman being attacked by the beast, one with an old man writing an account of the beast while revolutionary mobs congregate outside of his house, and one featuring a cool fight sequence staged in a downpour. There are so many characters that many of the supporting players should´ve been composited together for the sake of streamlined storytelling. Also, the last hour takes too much time explaining every little detail, as if the filmmakers didn´t trust audiences to figure out the story´s knots on their own. Ultimately, I think that "Le Pacte..." is less than the sum of its parts.
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[release]10542[/release]