Frantic Details

An American surgeon and his wife arrive in Paris for a second honeymoon. They catch a cab to the hotel, order some food, and he jumps in the shower. When he gets out, his wife has disappeared. With no clues and speaking no French he now has to find his wife, and find out what on earth is going on.

Thus begins a tense thriller involving kidnapping, drug running and the Paris underworld. The film is extremely atmospheric, vividly capturing the nightmare of being a stranger in a city where you don?t speak the language. Ennio Morricone?s ska-heavy score is central to this, and although it sounds slightly dated now this somehow adds to its charm. Harrison Ford gives a tremendous performance, continuously perplexed at his inability to influence or communicate, and Emmanuelle Seigner (the future Mrs Polanski) makes a dazzling femme fatale.

However the film suffers slightly from having all its best moments early on. In the first half of the film the plot is precise and intricate, with a number of elements satisfyingly set up and paid off. We are as baffled by events as Ford, so we share his panic and frustration, as he desperately tries to get the authorities to take him seriously. But as it becomes clear what?s happening the second half of the film becomes a series of chases, and as a result the film loses some of its momentum. There is also an interminable nightclub scene which becomes quite baffling.

Nonetheless Frantic marks a major return to form for Roman Polanski, who only made one other film during his eighties exile, after major triumphs in the seventies including Rosemary?s Baby and Chinatown. It was also the first film that really allowed Ford to explore a darker character, a role he reprises to some degree in the very underrated What Lies Beneath.

An American surgeon and his wife arrive in Paris for a second honeymoon. They catch a cab to the hotel, order some food, and he jumps in the shower. When he gets out, his wife has disappeared. With no clues and speaking no French he now has to find his wife, and find out what on earth is going on.

Thus begins a tense thriller involving kidnapping, drug running and the Paris underworld. The film is extremely atmospheric, vividly capturing the nightmare of being a stranger in a city where you don?t speak the language. Ennio Morricone?s ska-heavy score is central to this, and although it sounds slightly dated now this somehow adds to its charm. Harrison Ford gives a tremendous performance, continuously perplexed at his inability to influence or communicate, and Emmanuelle Seigner (the future Mrs Polanski) makes a dazzling femme fatale.

However the film suffers slightly from having all its best moments early on. In the first half of the film the plot is precise and intricate, with a number of elements satisfyingly set up and paid off. We are as baffled by events as Ford, so we share his panic and frustration, as he desperately tries to get the authorities to take him seriously. But as it becomes clear what?s happening the second half of the film becomes a series of chases, and as a result the film loses some of its momentum. There is also an interminable nightclub scene which becomes quite baffling.

Nonetheless Frantic marks a major return to form for Roman Polanski, who only made one other film during his eighties exile, after major triumphs in the seventies including Rosemary?s Baby and Chinatown. It was also the first film that really allowed Ford to explore a darker character, a role he reprises to some degree in the very underrated What Lies Beneath.