pact of wolves

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Movie
German title pact of wolves
Original title Le Pacte des loups
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 2001
length Theatrical version:
137 minutes
Director's Cut:
145 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
JMK 16
Rod
Director Christophe Goose
script Stéphane Cabel ,
Christophe Gans
production Richard Granpierre ,
Samuel Hadida
music Joseph LoDuca
camera Dan Laustsen
cut Xavier Loutreuil ,
Sébastien Prangère ,
David Wu
occupation

Pact of Wolves is a 2001 French film directed by Christophe Gans and starring Vincent Cassel , Monica Bellucci and Mark Dacascos . The film is freely based on the true story of the beast of Gévaudan . Between 1764 and 1767, around 100 people in Gévaudan (southern France) fell victim to this in a cruel way under circumstances that have never been clarified. In Germany, the film was shown for the first time on July 18, 2001 as part of the Fantasy Film Festival .

content

When the French Revolution was in full swing, the now old Thomas d'Apcher wrote his memoirs about what happened in Gévaudan at the time.

1767 the natural scientist Grégoire de Fronsac of King Louis XV. posted to Gévaudan. He should kill the beast and bring it to Paris. He is accompanied by the Iroquois Mani, whom he met in America. He is also supported by Thomas d'Apcher, a young aristocrat.

First, he asks the beast's victims who have survived, and thus comes to the conclusion that the beast cannot be a normal wolf or any other known animal. He finds a metal tooth in the corpse of a victim he is examining, further evidence that it is not a normal animal. However, he himself cannot confront the beast.

At the same time he got to know the Morangias family and fell in love with their daughter Marianne, who was very reserved towards him. Her brother Jean-François is hostile to the scientist, as is the priest of the community, Henri Sardis, but for no good reason. Finally, it comes to "the largest driven hunt that has ever been organized in the Kingdom of France ". A large number of wolves are hunted because the general public still assumes it is a wolf-like creature. However, the beast is not killed because the killing continues. Because of this, the previous commander is sent back to his regiment with his soldiers. In his place comes Beauterne, a man from the King's Guard. Another attack takes place and a surviving girl reports that a man was with the beast. However, this is dismissed as nonsense by the priest Sardis.

Fronsac receives the order from Beauterne to prepare a wolf so that it looks like a possible beast. This is to be brought to Paris and the reputation of the king restored. Reluctantly, he bends down and goes with him to Paris , where he is forbidden to ever return to Gévaudan. Nobody should know that the real beast was not killed. In addition, he received the offer to travel to Africa , a long-cherished wish from him. On the day of his departure, however, d'Apcher manages to stop him. He is helped by a letter from Marianne in which she presumably confesses her love for him.

Back in Gévaudan, Fronsac, Mani and d'Apcher go hunting again, but this time Mani brings the wolves of the forest to bring them the beast. So it happens and the three men try to overpower the beast in a ravine that they have prepared with traps; but the animal can escape injured. Mani follows in his footsteps and discovers a cave full of crosses in which the beast is also kept. However, he is killed by the gypsies who serve the Lord of the Beast. Fronsac goes to the Gypsies' quarters and kills many of them. Then he returns home to bury Mani. There it turns out that the priest Sardis knew all along that the beast was commanded by a human. Fronsac was then arrested for returning to Gévaudan despite the ban. However, the courtesan Sylvia (who is a spy of the Pope, as it later turns out), saves him by giving him a poison that makes him appear dead. From her he also learns that the beast was commanded by the Enlightenment hostile "Pact of Wolves", an organization whose sole aim is to preach the word of God and create a new France.

In a change of scene you can see Marianne and her brother, who is apparently in love with her and also mad. But since she rejects him, he goes nuts, rapes his sister and seriously injures her. This scene also shows that Jean-François is the master of the beast. Fronsac attacks the pact a second time during a meeting, but this time accompanied by soldiers who immediately arrest the members. Nevertheless, there is a final fight between Fronsac and Jean-François, in which Jean-François dies.

At home, Fronsac learns that Marianne is dying. He gives her a cure that Mani gave him. At first it remains unclear whether this will save Marianne. In his memoirs, however, d'Apcher reports that he liked to imagine that the two would later lead a happy life in Africa. Fronsac learns from the caretaker of the beast that the beast is a cub of a strange creature from Africa (a lion) that is wrapped in armor that makes it look horrific and invulnerable. Jean-François brought the animal to France from Africa and specifically trained it to be so cruel. With a targeted shot from close range in the head, Fronsac kills the creature. The subsequent final sequence of the film shows Marianne and Fronsac standing on the railing of a ship that is sailing across the sea. Fronsac scatters Mani's ashes in the wind. It is not clear whether this final sequence only shows d'Apcher's dream or whether Marianne and Fronsac actually lead happy lives in Africa. At the end of the story, d'Apcher faces the revolutionary mob in front of his property, who apparently will take him to his execution.

Specialty

Pact of the Wolves is one of the few French films that has also been successful in the United States .

Not only is the subject of the film based on a true story, but also the majority of the characters in the film. Beauterne and Duhamel are very much based on their historical models. Fronsac, on the other hand, is not so easy to assign and is probably based on the natural scientist Comte (Count) de Buffon , who was also very eloquent, but never in America.

The design of the beast

The beast was designed for the film by the " Jim Hensons Creature Shop", which breathed life into the Ninja Turtles and the piglet Babe , among others .

After the first drawings were approved by Christophe Gans, a sculpture of the beast was first created, which was then to move as realistically as possible with the help of various mechanisms.

The team consisted of painters, designers, engineers and electronics technicians who ultimately designed a computer-controlled hydraulic system so that certain movement sequences, such as facial expressions, which are otherwise difficult to create, could be programmed.

Three specimens of the beast were created. There was a mechanical version for filming, but it could only be used if the beast didn't have to move much in a scene. In addition, a copy was needed for the stunts . The most important version, however, was the digital one, which was only added when the film was revised on the computer, mostly in action scenes that could not be carried out by the mechanical model.

Often the decision between the mechanical and the digital version was only made after the shooting, if the director did not find a scene realistic enough.

The scenes with the mechanical beast were rarely shot directly on the scene; they were mostly shot in front of a blue screen in the London studios, so that the actors often had to imagine the beast.

Awards

At the Cabourg Romantic Film Festival, Émilie Dequenne won the award for best young actress for her role as Marianne de Morangias .

In 2002 Dominique Borg won the César for best costumes.

Christophe Gans received the “Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver” at the Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya , Spain .

The Pact of Wolves was nominated in eight categories for the Saturn Award , but could not win any.

Reviews

“An elaborate, dark and largely exciting mixture of fantasy, horror and crime films in the guise of a cloak and sword adventure, especially in terms of visual design. The historical framework of the story based on traditional events is included, but the characters remain rather pale. "

- Lexicon of international film

“Hong Kong action, monsters and costumes: with his mystery adventure 'Pact of the Wolves', the French director Christophe Gans succeeded in creating a genre film that is as stylish as it is virtuoso and adorns European cinema, but does not have to hide from Hollywood blockbusters. "

- Spiegel Online

“Well roared: Even at the adrenaline-pumping start, the French action film 'The Pact of Wolves' falls into confusion. The girl looks like something out of an expensive costume epic, but her death is staged as bloodthirsty voyeuristically as in a splatter film - and as hectic as on MTV. "

- AP

“When the funny monster is found towards the end, you've actually switched off long ago. The senses sleep. So much fantasy [meaning the film genre, better known as fantasy ] tires out as quickly as fantasy never could. "

- FAZ.net

“The scenery is as gloomy as Burton's" Sleepy Hollow ", the fight scenes staged by Hong Kong veteran Phillip Kwok known from various martial arts films, even John Woo's pigeons and the frenzied tracking shot from Sam Raimi's" Evil Dead "are not missing. With the coolness with which the taciturn heroes take on a host of opponents, even the spaghetti westerns are invited to the wild round of film styles. "

- Filmstarts.de

“What is really creepy about PAKT DER WOLFE is its ignorant oscillation between long windedness and sensation. With its confusing network of people, the gaudy but randomly interspersed martial arts inserts and the sedate browsing of pretty much all possible topics, the film stands in its own way. The tension comes and goes sporadically. Gans completely spans the curve when, after almost two hours of running, his hero embarks on a deeply cynical and repulsive campaign of revenge, as a substitute for a meaningful ending. What else can a sophisticated optics tear out? "

- Playerweb.de

“With brilliant photography, director Christophe Gans (" Crying Freeman ") dives into almost forgotten worlds and offers a gripping mix of visually impressive costume films, powerful martial arts action, dark horror images and imaginative fantasy with western elements. It was based on a historically guaranteed history. To put an end to the horror stories from the provinces, the king had a killed wolf publicly exhibited as the cause of the bestial murders. But that didn't stop the murders. This served Gans as the starting point for this fascinating film work. "

- Prisma.de

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Age rating for Pact of Wolves . Youth Media Commission .
  2. ↑ Nominations and Awards. In: imdb.com. Retrieved April 4, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Pact of Wolves. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 4, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ↑ Monster and sword. In: Spiegel Online. Retrieved April 4, 2018 .
  5. ^ First French costume kung fu film. In: rp-online.de. Retrieved April 4, 2018 .
  6. ↑ On the verge of kitsch: "Pact of Wolves". In: faz.net. Retrieved April 4, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Pact of Wolves. In: filmstarts.de. Retrieved April 4, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Pact of Wolves. In: playerweb.de. Retrieved April 4, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Pact of Wolves. In: prisma.de. Retrieved April 4, 2018 .