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Best movie of this year hands down!

Touches You

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

So this was Desplechin's first full length film.That makes sense to me because it is his most obtuse.After the first 20 minutes, the words I was using for my reaction to it were: 'strange' and 'too dark' (visually darker than any film I can remember seeing but not seeing). After I endured the film,my experience turned into a series of questions about why? where? who? what? and did I mention why? Palmiro, the author of the 'Spoilers' review helped explain a number of key things but questions are still rolling around at my feet.The acting was very good but everyone seemed disaffected and distant- from others, themselves, and their audience. By the end of the film, I just didn't care about any of them nor did I care about the political underpinnings of the story, or about the director for that matter.But then I realized that the reason I wanted to see this-was because I was finally impressed by one of his works, 2009's A Christmas Tale, which I recently saw and would like to re-watch.From my perspective(and I am a huge French film fan)the ennui of his characters and the obtuseness of his 'plots' just do not make for a worthwhile cinematic experience.Do go see A Christmas Tale but don't bother with any of his other works, including La Sentinelle.I hope that A Christmas Tale will be the first of his "later, GOOD films" !!

A crackin' suspenseful espionage thriller that thankfully abstains from using Hollywood-style explosions and multiple gunshots to maintain viewers attention. It took me a while and numerous repeat viewings to appreciate and understand this movie, but it was worth the effort. The cast is flawless, particularly Salinger and Todeschini as the reluctant hero and the loathsome villain respectively, who both give galvanizing performances; fantastic cinematography; and a chilling soundtrack which contributes beautifully to the atmosphere- this is French cinema at its best. Mathias' relationship with the head I found particularly compelling, although it may be a bit eerie for all tastes….Basically, if you want a subtle, thought provoking film that doesn't signpost every clever detail, then this is for you.However, if you are a blockbuster junkie, simply looking for entertainment then steer well clear; I know of only a (very small) handful of people who enjoyed this espionage tale, so beware, this ain't James Bond!All in all, 7/10 for a thoroughly engrossing, realistic spy story.

Seeing this film one time will suffice. It was offbeat and at times a bit morbid, but I stuck with it and was glad I did. Not as slow as Antonioni's "Red Desert," which is my measuring stick for movies that make me want to scream, "Get on with it!" The acting was good with a youthful cast that brought credibility to this Parisian story.

A student in medicine finds a severed head, well preserved and embalmed, in his luggage, on a trip from Berlin to Paris. His father is the late French ambasador in Eastern Germany. Why the head is here ? Where does it come from ? Why him ? For what purpose? He doesn't know. At first, he forgets about the head and tries to make friends, builds his life and keep studying but... he soon becomes obsessed with the head. Since he is the only one to know then he bears the responsibility to find out why and for what... The movie starts slowly and gains in intensity as the story develops. The cast is remarkable and the characters are all touching. The magic of the movie is that it possesses the same complexity as a Dostoeivski novel (really). It works in a very subtle way, making its way unnoticed to your mind and memory... I did not like it the first time I saw it, but months after, years after, La Sentinelle came back haunt me... and I had to see it again, just like I sometimes read over again a book that has depths I missed the first time.