Operation Duval - The Secret Protocol
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Operation Duval - The Secret Protocol |
| Original title | La mécanique de l'ombre |
| Country of production |
France Belgium |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 2016 |
| length | 91 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Thomas Kruithof |
| script | Thomas Kruithof Yann Gozlan |
| production |
Thibault guest Matthias Weber |
| music | Gregoire Auger |
| camera | Alex Lamarque |
| cut | Jean-Baptiste Beaudoin |
| occupation | |
| |
Operation Duval - The Secret Protocol is a French - Belgian thriller by Thomas Kruithof from 2016. It deals with the topic of surveillance .
action
Duval works for an insurance company. When he is supposed to create a dossier overnight and numerous documents are missing for it, he collapses. Two years later, Duval is unemployed and tries in vain to find a new job, as references from the previous employer are always required. He has been away from alcohol for a year but attends therapy sessions regularly. Here he meets the young Sara, for whom he takes on a mentoring function in the group. She can always call him if she needs help on her way away from alcohol.
Shortly after Duval saw his former colleague de Grugy again at a funeral and told him about his unemployment, Clément, whom he did not know, offered him a job on the phone. He is supposed to type tap tapes on the typewriter for several hours a day in an apartment. Duval accepts the offer. The tapes are about a recent hostage-taking case. Duval overhears the tapes as negotiator Al-Shamikh, who could have the three hostages free, is murdered during a phone call. A little later he reads in the newspaper that Al-Shamikh had committed suicide. In the secret apartment Duval receives a visit from Gerfaut, who pretends to be an employee of Clément. He reads the typed up pages of Duval and has a special interest in a volume in which Al-Shamikh reports on notebooks in which he wrote everything important. Gerfaut forces Duval, who is now about to resign, to go with him into the office of Al-Shamikh's lawyers and steal the notebooks. Both of them are caught by a cleaning worker who is strangled by Gerfaut. The books found prove useless. A little later, Duval is brought to Clément. Duval denies having been present at the robbery. Clément shows him Gerfaut, who has been tortured. Gerfaut used to work for Clément, but has become a rogue. When Clément orders Duval to continue working, Duval tries to flee.
On his escape, Duval is caught by men on the opposite side: Labarthe works for the government and confronts Duval with footage from the surveillance camera that shows Duval and Gerfaut murdering the cleaner. Duval reports on his work for Clément and also that one of the main characters who is monitored by Clément is Labarthe himself. From now on, Duval made copies of the tapes on Labarthe's instructions, which he copied. This also includes a telephone conversation between Duval and Labarthe. Shortly afterwards, Duval is kidnapped by Clement's men who want Al-Shamikh's notebooks from him. Duval causes a car accident and escapes. He returns to his apartment, which has been devastated. Sara, who stayed with him, was kidnapped by Clement's men.
Duval realizes that De Grugy has brought him the job with Clément. Everything seems to be related to the presidential candidacy of the right-wing candidate Chalamont. Duval forces De Grugy to put him in contact with Clément and pretends to have the notebooks in front of him, although he has learned from Labarthe that there are no books. However, this is how he managed to get Sara released. Clément realizes that Duval works for two sides and lets Duval lead him to Labarthe. The background is cleared up in a stadium: Clement's goal was to prevent the hostages from being released before the upcoming presidential election. This should get Chalamont more votes. Chalamont, it is clear, will now win the election. Clément tries to win Labarthe for the soon to be formed new government and after some hesitation he agrees. Duval is horrified and gives the signal for access that Labarthe had previously identified. Clément and his men are shot. A little later, the newly elected President Chalamont celebrates his first victory as President with the release of the hostages. Duval, in turn, goes to the hospital to visit Sara.
production
Operation Duval - The Secret Protocol shows features of Franz Kafka's The Trial . At the same time he refers to the political crises and entanglements that existed in France over the past 30 years; François Cluzet was inspired by Patrick Süskind's Die Taube . It was the feature film directing debut of Thomas Kruithof, who had previously made the short film Rétention . The film was shot in Brussels. Christophe Pidre created the costumes, Thierry François designed the film .
The film premiered on August 25, 2016 at the Festival du Film Francophone d'Angoulême and was shown in French cinemas on January 11, 2017. The German premiere was on September 16, 2017 at the Oldenburg International Film Festival , with the film being subtitled. The German theatrical release took place on November 23, 2017.
criticism
For the star , Operation Duval - The Secret Protocol was a "formally strict paranoia crawl and greeting card to the Hollywood conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s." The Oldenburger Nachrichten wrote that it was "a film that does not set the tone through its action or imagery." rather, it stirs up fear through sadness and ignorance. ”For the Westdeutsche Zeitung it was a“ sinister espionage thriller ”, which over the course of time became“ increasingly surreal, quite well Kafka-esque ”; The film is a "paranoid-claustrophobic nightmare, which is completely unpredictable in its best moments." "Thomas Kruithof's film shimmers between Kafka and film noir," stated the Kieler Nachrichten .
The film service awarded the film four out of five possible stars and rated it as a "captivatingly photographed, rather casually staged neo-noir thriller", which shines through its leading actor and is "clever the extent of state surveillance" demonstrate.
Web links
- Operation Duval - The secret protocol in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Operation Duval - The secret protocol at allocine.fr
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of Release for Operation Duval - The Secret Protocol . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF).
- ^ Operation Duval - The Secret Protocol on murnau-stiftung.de
- ↑ Secrets tournage on allocine.fr
- ↑ a b Heiner Elsen: From the life of others . In: Oldenburger Nachrichten , September 13, 2017, p. 26.
- ↑ cinema . In: Stern , No. 48, November 23, 2017, page 131.
- ↑ Kalle Somnitz: Life is falling apart . In: Westdeutsche Zeitung , November 22, 2017.
- ^ Ben: Seeking sons and soldiers on leave . In: Kieler Nachrichten , November 23, 2017, p. 34.
- ^ Operation Duval - The Secret Protocol. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 22, 2020 .