Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Why is this not the original French cut? , 19 Jan 2007
Remember seeing this film on BBC2 in the 80s (under the title 'Deadly Run')- an absolutely wonderful, intriguing, mesmerising film.
Unfortunately, this DVD seems to be a cut-down version for the US market, with approximately half an hour chopped to give it its 96 min run time, and what's cut out radically changes the film into just another daft chase movie.
So when's some enterprising company gonna release the full version? If me and the people I know are anything to go by, there's a market for it!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the Eye of the Beholder done with Style - but shamefully cut for the dvd, 17 May 2007
FIRST, AS ANOTHER REVIEWER NOTED, SOME OF THE FILM IS MISSING. SO PLEASE CAN WE HAVE A PROPER DVD RELEASE.
This was eleased previously with an English name 'Deadly Run' - which is a decent translation. I've a feeling it would attract more attention if Isabelle Adjani was given more prominence in the listings - you know that gorgeous French actress who was in that(not very great) film with Sharon Stone, in 'La Reine Margot', 'Subway'{Metro?),often without clothes and stunning in 'One Deadly Summer'. Maybe she has a limited acting range or maybe she's just been typecast in roles that can be interpreted with a limited range of pouts and wide-eyed stares(even 'La Reine Margot') but like John Wayne whether it's acting or not it's engaging and entertaining. Michel Serrault(more substantial actor) is a default crumpled French detective who is hired to investigate her but becomes obsessed, goes AWOL and voyeuristically follows her through a 'Deadly Run'. It can be a bit like a series of erotic fashion shoots (especially in this cut version )but, for what it is, it's entertaining, atmospheric and original.
And you can't imagine the story being done better. Which brings is to the other version of this . The story is from a novel by Marc Behm called ' the Eye of the Beholder' and there was a totally forgettable film of this (I'm not sure when it came out)called ' Eye of the Beholder' with Ewen MacGregor. Dull, plodding, leaden, no style at all - the worst film I've seen Ewen MacGregor in. Some of the settings are changed (and the investigator's employer) but mostly it's the same story.
The Isabelle Adjani/ Michelle Serrault version is the definitive one and should be better known - dubbing wouldn't hurt at all as it's a very visual(voyeuristic) film (but without a lot of gratuitous nudity - more's the pity). This came out in the early 90s. Oh ... it's in French with subtitles - that will put off most of the people who would enjoy it, unfortunately.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Wildly over-rated, incredibly disappointing, 19 Feb 2009
There's a great film struggling to get out of 'Mortelle Randonnée' (aka 'Deadly Run'). Unfortunately, it's Emil Jannings' 'The Last Laugh,' the plot of which the anti-heroine steals as an imaginary childhood for one of her false identities when she catches a glimpse of it on TV (the film is silent and the lover she tells the story to is blind). The scene underlines the movie's big problem - some clever ideas that just don't pay off.
Sadly Mortelle Randonnée isn't half as good as it gives the distinct impression it thinks it is. Sadly, it isn't even much of an improvement over many a straight-to-tape cable filler. The premise is good: Michel Serrault's emotionally damaged private investigator covers up the serial murders of an even more damaged young woman he convinces himself is his long-dead daughter. Unfortunately, the tone and execution are not. As the broad score makes abundantly clear, this is a clumsy black comedy which only thinks it is subtle. Serrault has his moments but seems hell-bent on undermining his performance with inappropriate and self-indulgent moments of playing to the gallery while an uninspired Adjani is just a vacuum: she may be meant to have no true identity, but surely she's not meant to be so overwhelmingly bland? Both have been much better before and since.
Things do improve in the last third with some intriguing moments that, once again, never really pay off - a shame because the final scene is genuinely impressive and could have been so much more had there been some emotional link to the characters. But sadly, the much-criticised remake, 'Eye of the Beholder,' is actually a much better bet despite a miscast Ewan McGregor (too young for the central conceit to work but good nonetheless), and if you're intrigued by the premise is the one to go for. If only this version had been as good as it thinks it is...
As noted elsewhere, the NTSC DVD is a heavily cut version. The transfer is okay, although blacks are a little soft. Extras are limited to filmographies and a very, very brief trailer.
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