Anthony Zimmer
Encyclopedia
Anthony Zimmer is a 2005 French romantic thriller film directed by Jérôme Salle
starring Sophie Marceau
and Yvan Attal
. The film spawned an American-produced remake in 2010 titled The Tourist
.
Zimmer was working for. Zimmer is an elusive character, and no known description is available as he has apparently had drastic plastic surgery to alter his appearance and voice. A standout detective, Akerman (Sami Frey
), is ahead of others in the race to catch the criminal mastermind. Akerman knows that Zimmer will risk everything to see the lover he left behind, Chiara Manzoni (Sophie Marceau
).
One rainy morning, while Chiara is waiting at a restaurant, she receives a message from Zimmer, who has become aware of Akerman's trap. To mislead all those following him, Zimmer asks her to "pick up" a stranger and make his enemies believe he is the one they're looking for. Chiara boards a TGV
and chooses François Taillandier (Yvan Attal
), a rather bland man who, fascinated by the young lady, is quickly and easily set up to take the fall. François is a 38-year-old translator who reads detective novels and explains to Chiara that his wife left him over six months ago. Upon arriving at Cannes
, Chiara invites François to stay over with her at the Carlton Hotel. She also gives him a watch that bears Zimmer's name on the back.
The next morning, François wakes up alone and finds himself the target of two hitmen. He frantically escapes through the fire exit and seeks shelter at a nearby police station. There, he befriends Lt. Camel Driss (Samir Guesmi), who provides him with some clothing and a room to stay at the nearest hospital. They discover that Chiara had checked out of the room that day, but Driss believes François' story after seeing a bullet hole in the hotel room, which is now occupied by members of the White Collar Barons and their leader, Nassaiev (Daniel Olbrychski
). Driss is murdered that night, and upon seeing Nassaiev and his goons outside his room, François makes his escape and unexpectedly reunites with Chiara, who takes him to a secret hideout in Nice
. There, she explains to him that she set him up because he matches Zimmer's build, and she tells him to stay in the hideout for a few days. However, after finding some clothes in the closet, he stalks her outside the Hotel Negresco
the next day, hoping to get more answers from her. He is immediately nabbed by the police and interrogated by Akerman, who reveals to him that Chiara is an undercover DGDDI
agent. That night, Ackerman secretly meets up with Chiara and discusses about the rendezvous Zimmer posted on a classified ad. He tells her that while she will be at the rendezvous point, he will keep an eye on François to see what she sees in him.
With François in custody, Ackerman and his men park their surveillance truck and have their snipers ready within the vicinity of Zimmer's old mansion, which is the posted rendezvous point. Chiara enters the mansion and confronts the White Collar Barons and Nassaiev, who threatens to kill her if Zimmer does not arrive within five minutes. François leaves the truck and rushes into the mansion to intervene, but is immediately placed on the ground at gunpoint by Nassaiev's men. After Nassaiev rejects her claims that François is not Zimmer, Chiara gives the signal to have the snipers shoot down the mob. After the police clear the mob's bodies from the scene, François reveals to Chiara the he is, in fact, Anthony Zimmer. She tells him to flee, but he refuses. He opens a secret safe and takes out a notebook filled with his banking information, leaving it by the front door for Akerman. Chiara, realizing she has Zimmer's fate in her hands, decides not to reveal his true identity to the police. The two then drive away together.
.
Lisa Nesselson of Variety
magazine praised the film, saying that "well-staged antics are not of the breathless variety, but a handful of original moments and a satisfying twist make the movie better than average."
, starred Johnny Depp
, Angelina Jolie
, Paul Bettany
, and Timothy Dalton
, and released on December 10, 2010. Filming began on February 23, 2010 in Paris, France. Despite being a box-office success and receiving three nominations (Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress) in the Musical or Comedy picture category at the 68th Golden Globe Awards
, the remake was met with mostly negative critical reviews.
Jérôme Salle
Jérôme Salle is a French film director and screenwriter.Salle has directed the films Anthony Zimmer, Largo Winch, and Largo Winch .-Notes:...
starring Sophie Marceau
Sophie Marceau
Sophie Marceau is a French actress director, screenwriter, and author. She has appeared in 38 films. As a teenager, Marceau achieved popularity with her debut films La boum and La boum 2 , receiving a César Award for Most Promising Actress...
and Yvan Attal
Yvan Attal
Yvan Attal is an Israeli-born French actor and director.-Background:Born in Tel-Aviv to French-Algerian Jewish parents, he grew up in the outskirts of Paris. His acting debut was in Éric Rochant's Un monde sans pitié , which earned him a César Award for Most Promising Actor...
. The film spawned an American-produced remake in 2010 titled The Tourist
The Tourist (2010 film)
The Tourist is a 2010 romantic thriller film directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. It is a remake of the 2005 French action film Anthony Zimmer....
.
Plot
Anthony Zimmer is a genius career criminal who is wanted by police around the world. He has used ingenious methods to launder money legally, such as creating a dummy corporation and filing a lawsuit against a firm outside of France. In addition to the police, Zimmer is wanted by the "White Collar Barons", a powerful Russian MafiaRussian Mafia
The Russian Mafia is a name applied to organized crime syndicates in Russia and Ukraine. The mafia in various countries take the name of the country, as for example the Ukrainian mafia....
Zimmer was working for. Zimmer is an elusive character, and no known description is available as he has apparently had drastic plastic surgery to alter his appearance and voice. A standout detective, Akerman (Sami Frey
Sami Frey
Sami Frey, born Samuel Frei is a French actor. Perhaps his most famous films are En compagnie d'Antonin Artaud and Bande à part...
), is ahead of others in the race to catch the criminal mastermind. Akerman knows that Zimmer will risk everything to see the lover he left behind, Chiara Manzoni (Sophie Marceau
Sophie Marceau
Sophie Marceau is a French actress director, screenwriter, and author. She has appeared in 38 films. As a teenager, Marceau achieved popularity with her debut films La boum and La boum 2 , receiving a César Award for Most Promising Actress...
).
One rainy morning, while Chiara is waiting at a restaurant, she receives a message from Zimmer, who has become aware of Akerman's trap. To mislead all those following him, Zimmer asks her to "pick up" a stranger and make his enemies believe he is the one they're looking for. Chiara boards a TGV
TGV
The TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by SNCF Voyages, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator....
and chooses François Taillandier (Yvan Attal
Yvan Attal
Yvan Attal is an Israeli-born French actor and director.-Background:Born in Tel-Aviv to French-Algerian Jewish parents, he grew up in the outskirts of Paris. His acting debut was in Éric Rochant's Un monde sans pitié , which earned him a César Award for Most Promising Actor...
), a rather bland man who, fascinated by the young lady, is quickly and easily set up to take the fall. François is a 38-year-old translator who reads detective novels and explains to Chiara that his wife left him over six months ago. Upon arriving at Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, Chiara invites François to stay over with her at the Carlton Hotel. She also gives him a watch that bears Zimmer's name on the back.
The next morning, François wakes up alone and finds himself the target of two hitmen. He frantically escapes through the fire exit and seeks shelter at a nearby police station. There, he befriends Lt. Camel Driss (Samir Guesmi), who provides him with some clothing and a room to stay at the nearest hospital. They discover that Chiara had checked out of the room that day, but Driss believes François' story after seeing a bullet hole in the hotel room, which is now occupied by members of the White Collar Barons and their leader, Nassaiev (Daniel Olbrychski
Daniel Olbrychski
Daniel Olbrychski is a Polish actor best known for leading roles in several Andrzej Wajda movies and also known for playing the Russian defector and spymaster Vassily Orlov, alongside Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie in the movie Salt....
). Driss is murdered that night, and upon seeing Nassaiev and his goons outside his room, François makes his escape and unexpectedly reunites with Chiara, who takes him to a secret hideout in Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
. There, she explains to him that she set him up because he matches Zimmer's build, and she tells him to stay in the hideout for a few days. However, after finding some clothes in the closet, he stalks her outside the Hotel Negresco
Hotel Negresco
The Hotel Negresco on the Promenade des Anglais on the Baie des Anges in Nice, France was named for Henri Negresco who had the palatial hotel constructed in 1912...
the next day, hoping to get more answers from her. He is immediately nabbed by the police and interrogated by Akerman, who reveals to him that Chiara is an undercover DGDDI
Directorate-general of customs and indirect taxes
The Directorate-General of Customs and Indirect Taxes is a French law enforcement agency responsible for levying indirect taxes, preventing smuggling, surveilling borders, and investigating counterfeit money...
agent. That night, Ackerman secretly meets up with Chiara and discusses about the rendezvous Zimmer posted on a classified ad. He tells her that while she will be at the rendezvous point, he will keep an eye on François to see what she sees in him.
With François in custody, Ackerman and his men park their surveillance truck and have their snipers ready within the vicinity of Zimmer's old mansion, which is the posted rendezvous point. Chiara enters the mansion and confronts the White Collar Barons and Nassaiev, who threatens to kill her if Zimmer does not arrive within five minutes. François leaves the truck and rushes into the mansion to intervene, but is immediately placed on the ground at gunpoint by Nassaiev's men. After Nassaiev rejects her claims that François is not Zimmer, Chiara gives the signal to have the snipers shoot down the mob. After the police clear the mob's bodies from the scene, François reveals to Chiara the he is, in fact, Anthony Zimmer. She tells him to flee, but he refuses. He opens a secret safe and takes out a notebook filled with his banking information, leaving it by the front door for Akerman. Chiara, realizing she has Zimmer's fate in her hands, decides not to reveal his true identity to the police. The two then drive away together.
Cast
- Sophie MarceauSophie MarceauSophie Marceau is a French actress director, screenwriter, and author. She has appeared in 38 films. As a teenager, Marceau achieved popularity with her debut films La boum and La boum 2 , receiving a César Award for Most Promising Actress...
as Chiara Manzoni - Yvan AttalYvan AttalYvan Attal is an Israeli-born French actor and director.-Background:Born in Tel-Aviv to French-Algerian Jewish parents, he grew up in the outskirts of Paris. His acting debut was in Éric Rochant's Un monde sans pitié , which earned him a César Award for Most Promising Actor...
as François Taillandier - Sami FreySami FreySami Frey, born Samuel Frei is a French actor. Perhaps his most famous films are En compagnie d'Antonin Artaud and Bande à part...
as Akerman - Gilles Lellouche as Müller
- Daniel OlbrychskiDaniel OlbrychskiDaniel Olbrychski is a Polish actor best known for leading roles in several Andrzej Wajda movies and also known for playing the Russian defector and spymaster Vassily Orlov, alongside Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie in the movie Salt....
as Nassaiev - Samir Guesmi as Lt. Camel Driss
- Dimitri Rataud as Perez
- Nicky Marbot as Douanier 1
- Olivier Chenevat as Douanier 2
- Alban Casterman as Jeune Douanier
- Christophe Odent as Président Commission
- Luc Chavy as Membre Commission
- Richard Delestre as Room Manager Carlton
- Yann de Monterno as Serveur Carlton
- Laurent Klug as Homme Discret
- José Fumanal as Réceptionniste Negresco
- Thierry Humbert as Garçon de café Nice
- Marc Diabira as Contrôleur Bus
- Alain Figlarz as Douanier Taxi
- Yves Penay as Réceptionniste Hotel
- Olivier Brocheriou as Infirmier Scanner
- Frédéric Vaysse as Contrôleur TGV (as Frederic Vaysse)
- Christophe Mahoudeaux as Steward TGV
- Arnaud Duléry as Garçon Train Bleu
- Aurélien Jegou as Jeune Garçon Train Bleu
- Gwenaël Clause as Policier Civil
- Pierre Rousselle as Homme Nassaiev
- Patrick Jacquet as Homme Nassaiev
- Valery Novikau as Homme Nassaiev
- Nicolas Tarev as Homme Nassaiev
Reception
Anthony Zimmer was critically well received but was a little box-office failure, with only 802,988 seats sold in FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Lisa Nesselson of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine praised the film, saying that "well-staged antics are not of the breathless variety, but a handful of original moments and a satisfying twist make the movie better than average."
Remake
The film was remade under the title The Tourist, which was directed by Florian Henckel von DonnersmarckFlorian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Florian Maria Georg Christian, Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck is a German film director, best known for writing and directing the 2007 Oscar-winning film The Lives of Others and the 2010 film The Tourist.-Personal life and family:...
, starred Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
, Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany is an English actor. He has appeared in a wide variety of films, including A Knight's Tale, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code...
, and Timothy Dalton
Timothy Dalton
Timothy Peter Dalton ) is a Welsh actor of film and television. He is known for portraying James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill , as well as Rhett Butler in the television miniseries Scarlett , an original sequel to Gone with the Wind...
, and released on December 10, 2010. Filming began on February 23, 2010 in Paris, France. Despite being a box-office success and receiving three nominations (Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress) in the Musical or Comedy picture category at the 68th Golden Globe Awards
68th Golden Globe Awards
The 68th Golden Globe Awards was broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 16, 2011, by NBC. The host was Ricky Gervais....
, the remake was met with mostly negative critical reviews.