Review of The Big Picture (2013) by Ben D — 09 Dec 2012

Paul Exban has it all - successful career, a beautiful wife, two beautiful kids. He's about to become boss of the company he works for. And yet there is an unsatisfied itch: he wants to be a photographer but never has the time. He's friends with a photographer. Then he discovers his wife is sleeping with this other photographer: his life enters freefall, and at his lowest ebb decides to confront the man who slept with his wife. Of course the man dies, but not how you expect - but it's what happens next that makes the picture. Paul Exban assumes the man's identity, disposes of his body, and flees the country, to assume a new life as a photographer on the Adriatic coast.

Based on an early novel by Douglas Kennedy, The Big Picture contains some big names of French cinema: Romain Duris, Marina Foïs, Niels Arestrup and Catherine Deneuve, the latter wasted in a few short scenes. Handsomely shot by Eric Lartigau, with some wonderful location work, and great cinematography. For a film about photography it needed to be visual handsome.

Where the film fails is in its implausibility, especially towards the end of the film: details of which I won't go into as they would spoil your enjoyment of it. These implausibility's do not undermine the movie entirely, but they do corrupt some of the good work done so far. Also, it is worth noting that the shadow of Alfred Hitchcock hangs over this film - I think because of its subject matter - and when you realise that, it's only a small step to wondering how Hitchcock would have handled it. I think there is a better film to be made concerning the middle third of the film - as Paul assumes his new identity, it is fraught with risk, and Lartigau throws much of it away with just a few simple visuals that deny the tension.

In all, this is not a poor picture - it is a solid psychological thriller, mostly well told, with a fantastic central performance from Roman Duris. It is a frustrating film, though, as one can see the better material hanging at the edges, trying to take centre-frame, but never doing so.