Despite the enthusiasm from most reviewers, I found the film dark and depressing, populated by unlikable characters.
The opening scene is eerie and shocking enough to make you think the rest of the movie will deliver one powerful punch after the other. Instead, it deflates. The plot moves forward 10 years from the horrific Eylau battlefield, and straight to the restored, stuffy and boring "ancien regime" of 1817.
Colonel Chabert, officially given for dead during the battle, is back in Paris and trying to get back his money and perhaps his - disgustingly greedy - wife Rose, who in the meantime remarried with a social climber and had two children with him.
Ardant plays the horrible Rose character with a perennial smile on her face and I didn't like her acting. Rose just refuses to acknowledge her first husband to keep his money and the legitimacy of her children.
Luchini plays slimy lawyer Derville who takes on Chabert case, even if most consider the colonel an impostor (he's not, that is established clearly from the star).
Didn't like Luchini, either. He played the part with a glazed stare and an annoying unflappability. Since I am not a Depardieu fan, not much was left for me ....Maybe I am just biased and this is a great film, but it did nothing for me.
The opening scene is eerie and shocking enough to make you think the rest of the movie will deliver one powerful punch after the other. Instead, it deflates. The plot moves forward 10 years from the horrific Eylau battlefield, and straight to the restored, stuffy and boring "ancien regime" of 1817.
Colonel Chabert, officially given for dead during the battle, is back in Paris and trying to get back his money and perhaps his - disgustingly greedy - wife Rose, who in the meantime remarried with a social climber and had two children with him.
Ardant plays the horrible Rose character with a perennial smile on her face and I didn't like her acting. Rose just refuses to acknowledge her first husband to keep his money and the legitimacy of her children.
Luchini plays slimy lawyer Derville who takes on Chabert case, even if most consider the colonel an impostor (he's not, that is established clearly from the star).
Didn't like Luchini, either. He played the part with a glazed stare and an annoying unflappability. Since I am not a Depardieu fan, not much was left for me ....Maybe I am just biased and this is a great film, but it did nothing for me.