Cast (in credits order) verified as complete
The Crimson Rivers Movie Trailer
The Crimson Rivers Movie / Les Rivières pourpres (2000) - Trailer (English subtitles)
The Crimson Rivers Movie Description
In The Crimson Rivers movie, The separate university of Guernon specializes in the study of eugenics through which researchers hope to produce academics of the highest calibre.
Chief Inspector Niemens (Jean Reno) is called from Paris to investigate a gruesome murder involving the torture of a university research librarian (close your eyes if mutilated bodies offend you)...
At the same time a local police officer is investigating the desecration of a grave in the local cemetery. Some intriguing clues (though a bit far-fetched) bring the two investigations closer together.
There is a strange relationship between the two policemen. The head of Paris is a loner with his own ideas while the energetic local official is kept at arm's length until he makes up his own mind.
The dialogues between these two keep the film alive. The rest of the characters certainly behave in questionable ways but play minor roles overall.
Dissection of dead bodies and opening of grave sites is always gruesome and not everyone's idea of entertainment.
They are important parts of the plot in this The Crimson Rivers Movie and definitely add to the atmosphere.
It seems strange when you consider that the police have to do so much of their work by torchlight. But then the shadows grow too big and who knows what might come out of them!
Suspicious looking university employees are of little help to the police, a fact that surprises me as their lives are possibly in danger.
For me the final scene when all is revealed is quite disappointing after a very interesting investigation.
It seems a little too convenient to solve a crime this way. The final avalanche was more exciting than solving the crime.
An unnecessary conceit can be found on occasion among fans of the genre, a tendency to regard the mainstream as some dingy monolith spewing garbage, while the genre's best cinema can only be found in foreign territories or underground.
Crimson River stands as a perfect corrective to such thinking, a French The Crimson Rivers Movie cute, shallow, silly, and fun.
In short it does a little better than most of its ilk, its biggest boost coming from swoon-worthy spots, but ultimately forgettable stuff with only a few particularly bright spots.
It is a killer thriller, a bound and dismembered body is found hanging from a mountain without hands and eyes, further remains are found and a specialist from Paris is brought into the case, a provincial is supported by the coppers, who find the matter involving grave humiliation.
In the same sinister plot. Jean Reno as the expert elder of the piece is his low-key cool and useful self in a display of jaded authority, a decidedly familiar twist but quite as entertaining to watch as he usually is.
Vincent Cassel fares better as his younger counterpart, a live-wire energetic type he makes a more compelling effort, together the two work well, they never stray beyond the clichés of such a pairing.
But it's nice to see them go through predictable motions. Nadia Fares is in a tone sexy/tough kind of role, she has the looks and presence for the character, so she fills it in very well, without making much of an impact.
The Crimson Rivers movie is at its best in its first half, building a sense of mystery and strangeness, enjoying its mountain setting with some great aerial shooting and breathtaking shots atop a glacier and then engrossing within a crevice.
There are a couple suitably after the fact corpses (a good example opening, complete with insect-filled wounds and some of the dialogue bordering on expository and a certain sinister vibe to the silly incidents.
But when Reno and Castle Entwine The Crimson Rivers Movie swiftly loses the plot and becomes completely ridiculous by the end.
It's not that the explanation isn't a good idea at all, it's just that The Crimson Rivers film doesn't present any characters or themes with any kind of depth and by the end The Crimson Rivers movie is delving into subject matter that requires some depth.
After all, this is no gillo or slasher where such things can be successfully avoided, it takes commitment to make it work. Still, I Never got bored at all and got me a few laughs even when the The Crimson Rivers movie was going south.
who is famous for his intelligent films about social issues; Like 'La Haine'. The suspenseful story, IMO often wrongly compared to David Fincher's 'Se7n' due to similar seemingly thematic elements, is set in the French Alps, in the fictional towns of Guernon and Sarzac.
The amazing visuals contribute greatly to the overall suspenseful atmosphere of The Crimson Rivers Movie and are a perfect backdrop for the film's solid cast.
This is especially true of the leading roles that were portrayed by two of the most talented French actors: Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel.
The plot is based on a novel by Jean-Christophe Grange, who also developed the screenplay together with director Mathieu Kassovitz.
Due to the book being quite complex due to the many carefully intertwined lines of action, a well-known issue with the adaptation had to be simplified, changed or simply cut.
Unfortunately, several explanatory scenes from the novel were omitted, so that you end up with a The Crimson Rivers Movie that is not boring, but quite confusing', as lead actor Vincent Cassel aptly puts it. . The following is a basic plot summary that intends to spoil the story as little as possible:
Commissioner Pierre Niemans is called to the remote university town of Guernon to solve a gruesome murder case in which the victim - a university librarian - was brutally tortured and mutilated.
Neither the university officials nor the students prove to be very helpful during the investigation and Niemans soon comes to the realization that there is something very suspicious about the whole situation.
Meanwhile, Commissar Max Kerkaryan investigates the desecration of a grave in Sarzac. It soon turns out that seemingly unrelated cases are strangely intertwined and after a second body is found, two very different cops team up to uncover a long-kept secret.
This knowledge eventually leads them into deadly situations, the deadliest of them marking the end of the The Crimson Rivers Movie, atop a massive, snow-covered glacier.
The acting is absolutely excellent: Jean Reno portrays Niemans as a determined, reserved but brilliant professional with an attitude that often offends those around him, even when he doesn't mean to.
Vincent Cassel is Max Kerkarian, a fairly lively character, quick-tempered but at times lacking self-control and completely unorthodox in his methods (the book also mentions him being a former car-thief).
The third lead role, Fanny Ferreira, a glaciologist working at the university and the first to find the corpse, is portrayed by Nadia Fares. Her enigmatic character is involved in much more mystery than it seems.
The action is greatly enhanced by the spectacular panoramic shots and camera trails used for location shooting, even though the opening scene, where the camera follows Niemans' car as it approaches the first crime scene, apparently Stanley Kubrick's 'Rack'. Glazed'.
One scene featured Niemans and the scientist Ferreira descending a glacier, a dangerous shot that required a giant crane to be hauled up the glacier to secure the actors.
The wonderful score was composed by Bruno Coulis, who managed to provide a fitting musical background to each scene.
As previously stated, major changes were necessary to transfer the complex novel to the screen.
The result was that many viewers were shocked by the film's abrupt, confusing, and seemingly illogical ending, as much of The Crimson Rivers film is left out where the book provides extensive background information.
This is where the biggest flaw of The Crimson Rivers Movie lies. Other changes include the renaming of Karim Abdouf (novel) to Max Kerkarian (film).
While his characteristics remained more or less the same, it was the author's original intention to include a police officer of Algerian descent in the story. The characters in the novel are generally darker with Niemans even killing a goon before the actual story begins.
The plot uncovered by the police is huge and it was one of the aspects that was simplified for The Crimson Rivers Movie.
Overall, one can complain that some of the action scenes look out of place, such as Kerkarian's fight with two skinheads or the obligatory car chase later in The Crimson Rivers film.
The 'mismatched-police scenario' isn't too innovative, but since it's depicted in such a unique way, it would be unfair to dismiss it as cliché.
While I can only reiterate that it may be difficult to fully understand The Crimson Rivers film in one go, as some have claimed, the story is by no means impossible to follow. 'The Crimson River' is definitely a great The Crimson Rivers Movie in its genre, with great camera shots and a great cast, and in that sense it's worth a watch.