This is a first rate example of what we may call the Olivier Marshal school of French film making, all the more effective because the cast, whilst well known in France are not exactly 'names' and are virtually unknown outside France other than to French film buffs. Six years ago Albert Dupontel was playing a concert pianist in Danielle Thompson's superb Fauteuils d'Orchestre, now he is a convicted bank robber turned hunter who is himself being hunted by a crack - or maybe not since he keeps eluding them - police team led by Alice Taglioni, more at home in romantic comedy (La Doublure) than thrillers but like Marina Fois before her she makes the transition smoothly and painlessly. The corruption among prison officers is virtually thrown away and so matter of fact that we can only assume it is widely accepted in France but the real virtue of the film is the pace which never lets up possibly because if it did we might actually question the seeming invincibility of Dupontel. In the last few years both Olivier Marshal (36, Quai des Orfevres) and Guillaume Canet (Ne le dis personne) have both turned out first-rate thrillers very similar to Le Proie and slightly superior but in both cases they have had the benefit of large budgets and heavy-hitters in the casts but pound-for-pound Le Proie can stand beside either. Excellent.
Review of The Prey
