Un Crime

Starring Harvey Keitel as a headband-wearing, boomerang-slinging sleazeball, Un Crime is a tedious, thoroughly pointless drama that has exceedingly little to offer even the most patient viewer. The story follows Vincent (Norman Reedus) as he attempts to track down his wife’s killer, though he’s made virtually no progress in the three years since her death. It’s not until lustful neighbor Alice (Emmanuelle Beart) starts seeing a shady taxi driver (Keitel) that things finally begin to fall into place, particularly as Alice concocts a plan of her own to conclusively end Vincent’s search. Director Manuel Pradal infuses Un Crime with a seedy, unpleasant sort of vibe that’s tremendously off-putting – which would be fine if there was even a hint of authenticity to any of this. The film’s screenplay – written by Pradal and Tonino Benacquista – fares even worse, as the dialogue (undoubtedly meant to come off as tough and spare) is almost uniformly absurd and pompous (eg “in the harsh light, you’ve got sadness written all over you”). Finally, in its third act, Un Crime begins to improve slightly thanks to a plot twist that’s straight out of Memento – but really, it’s far too late by then to care about any of this.

1/2* out of ****