email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

KARLOVY VARY 2013

Karlovy Vary: temperature 11.6

by 

- Philippe Godeau was present at the 48th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival to defend 11.6, his second film as a director which is taking part in the official competition.

The veteran producer of French cinema, Philippe Godeau, was present at the 48th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival to defend 11.6 [+see also:
trailer
interview: Philippe Godeau
film profile
]
, his second film as a director, which is taking part in the official competition after being released on French screens last April.

The film is freely based on the book by journalist Alice Géraud-Arfi, which tells the story of a real and singular character who hit the headlines in France in 2009. Toni Musulin (played by François Cluzet) had been a security guard delivering money for 10 years before hijacking his own armoured vehicle, carrying 11.6 million euros. The man from Lyon ended up surrendering to the police a few days later and the stash was found with 2.5 million missing. Musulin has always denied knowing where the money was... Considered a national hero who dared to stand up to banks during the financial crisis, the former security guard, today in solitary confinement in prison, remains surprisingly famous.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

For Philippe Godeau, the challenge was not to produce an action movie focused on a spectacular robbery. The director’s interest was in fact sparked by the rather taciturn man with no criminal record, apparently beyond all suspicion, who, one day, turns to grand larceny to convey a message. While the film clearly conveys Musulin’s machiavelic irony, it leaves enough information in the dark to create a real enigma surrounding this man, both disoriented in his personal life (which he vaguely shares with his partner played by Corinne Masiero, seen in Louise Wimmer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
) and remarkably calculating. This last aspect gives the film all its strength as it builds its suspense during the preparation phase of the criminal act, while at the same time voluntarily leaving a semi-opaque veil over the real intentions of the main protagonist, which are not revealed. Musulin claimed “I am not Robin Hood” and yet, in the climax scene in which he is seen lifting huge bags of bank notes (the rich) from the back of a small poor man’s truck, the public is delighted that he belongs to the second clan.

 

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from French)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy