Anything for Her is a French film caught between the two things we've come to expect from French film-makers and their cinematic form from recent years. The film is one part harrowing tale of supposed injustice, complete with character study in the form of a desperate male on a mission which blurs the lines between right and wrong; while it's additionally one part relentless thriller, a film that thrives on its seemingly endless passage of scenes that put the lead through a harrowing grinder of dedication to a cause, but will not be ashamed to include the odd action set piece or fight scene. The film calls to mind recent French films Irréversible and The Beat That my Heart Skipped in its attention to the study of the male putting themselves through Hell for sake of family members-come-loved ones; but Anything for Her carries a fast, loose aesthetic which additionally calls to mind something like Distrcit 13, or any other recently produced Luc Besson feature, thus placing it tantalisingly on the line between these two 'types'.
In fact the film provides that somewhat amusing; B-movie inspired; typically self-aware sensibility going into it. The cover for the film is a gruff looking and gun-wielding individual named Julien (Lindon) standing along side his wife Lisa (Kruger), complete with the tag-line (cue cheesy American voice-over trailer voice) "How far would you go for the one you loved?" slapped to the side of it all. The film does not hang around with an extended point of attack, and it isn't long before the premise of trying to get one's wife out of prison by whichever way possible is kick-started into action. Overall, I think the film wants us to enjoy Julien's striving to rescue his beloved wife from the system which has imprisoned her after society put her in; enjoy it more-so than feel absolutely terrible and really humbled alá the aforementioned examples as this man is put through some pretty harsh paces. If this sensation does wash over us at whatever point during the film, it might be because the couple have a young son whom the film, through the editing, often breaks off to encompass – just to make sure we're definitely on this guy's side.
Criticisms aside, I bought into it by the end. There can be no doubt that most will get their kicks out of the film by way of the rock 'em-sock'em approach it has, but the film was more of a character piece than I expected it to be, with Julien being transformed from a seemingly upstanding family man whom teaches at his local school. Indeed, the recognition Julien is deservedly given towards the end in regards to his shift is duly delivered when, in an ironic manner, certain individuals stare at some of his plans from earlier and exclaim that he was 'just an average guy' before being forced to come to terms with what has transpired.
The film sees police barge into the family's home and arrest wife Lisa, rather horrifically whilst she's discovering blood on her clothes in the bathroom. The police's grounds for arrest is based on a murder Lisa supposedly committed, that she argued with her boss; waited for them to travel to a car park; bludgeoned them to death with a fire extinguisher (what is is with the French and fire extinguishers as murder weapons in films?) before casually driving off home. Later on, we get a 'true' depiction of what happened when Lisa flashes back to the events in which it turns out someone else did what was pinned on her. Regardless, we're told she's innocent rather than going through the motions of finding out that she actually is – the film is not of the detective variety, but of the jailbreak variety.
Julien begins his transformation when it appears Lisa's mental condition is worsening in prison, and thus begins to reject her insulin dosages in an attempt to take one's life. With a child a few years older than what he was when Lisa was taken and desperation settling in when it emerges he may loose Lisa a second time, Julien springs into action. As a boxer boxing above his weight; as an individual completely out of his depth and as a fish nowhere near any water, he is an initial failure at his attempts to do what's right. By seeing him ambushed and beaten by two people he attempts to obtain fake passports from, the crashing reality that the road is long, and hard, hits home. But he climbs his way back up, by way of ambushing drug dealers and shoving his way into people's houses at gunpoint; this before we feel a transition of sorts is in progress. This is a transition the film, remember, wants you to recall is driven by pure love for another human being as well as the supposed false imprisonment of said human being; so it's all perfectly fine and all right to root for this guy and his actions, correct? That is if you buy into what the film offers in this sense.
So the film is an amusing trawl through France's underworld, as con artists; escape artists; counterfeiters and gangsters all make separate appearances. To the film's credit, director Fred Cavayé knows how to shift from horror and terror; to thrills and spills; to sheer suspense in equal measure. His film delivers on a visceral level of such a premise being executed in the manner it is with a series of scenes that exist to evoke such extreme reactions of pity, sorrow and willing. All this while its lead, practically the only real 'character' in the entire film, goes through a transition which offers a backbone to all the mayhem. It's not one of the best French efforts from recent times, but as far as this current spate of usually Luc Besson infused; kinetic; pleasure-aim; 'bang-for-your-buck' films go, Anything for Her is surprisingly above average.
In fact the film provides that somewhat amusing; B-movie inspired; typically self-aware sensibility going into it. The cover for the film is a gruff looking and gun-wielding individual named Julien (Lindon) standing along side his wife Lisa (Kruger), complete with the tag-line (cue cheesy American voice-over trailer voice) "How far would you go for the one you loved?" slapped to the side of it all. The film does not hang around with an extended point of attack, and it isn't long before the premise of trying to get one's wife out of prison by whichever way possible is kick-started into action. Overall, I think the film wants us to enjoy Julien's striving to rescue his beloved wife from the system which has imprisoned her after society put her in; enjoy it more-so than feel absolutely terrible and really humbled alá the aforementioned examples as this man is put through some pretty harsh paces. If this sensation does wash over us at whatever point during the film, it might be because the couple have a young son whom the film, through the editing, often breaks off to encompass – just to make sure we're definitely on this guy's side.
Criticisms aside, I bought into it by the end. There can be no doubt that most will get their kicks out of the film by way of the rock 'em-sock'em approach it has, but the film was more of a character piece than I expected it to be, with Julien being transformed from a seemingly upstanding family man whom teaches at his local school. Indeed, the recognition Julien is deservedly given towards the end in regards to his shift is duly delivered when, in an ironic manner, certain individuals stare at some of his plans from earlier and exclaim that he was 'just an average guy' before being forced to come to terms with what has transpired.
The film sees police barge into the family's home and arrest wife Lisa, rather horrifically whilst she's discovering blood on her clothes in the bathroom. The police's grounds for arrest is based on a murder Lisa supposedly committed, that she argued with her boss; waited for them to travel to a car park; bludgeoned them to death with a fire extinguisher (what is is with the French and fire extinguishers as murder weapons in films?) before casually driving off home. Later on, we get a 'true' depiction of what happened when Lisa flashes back to the events in which it turns out someone else did what was pinned on her. Regardless, we're told she's innocent rather than going through the motions of finding out that she actually is – the film is not of the detective variety, but of the jailbreak variety.
Julien begins his transformation when it appears Lisa's mental condition is worsening in prison, and thus begins to reject her insulin dosages in an attempt to take one's life. With a child a few years older than what he was when Lisa was taken and desperation settling in when it emerges he may loose Lisa a second time, Julien springs into action. As a boxer boxing above his weight; as an individual completely out of his depth and as a fish nowhere near any water, he is an initial failure at his attempts to do what's right. By seeing him ambushed and beaten by two people he attempts to obtain fake passports from, the crashing reality that the road is long, and hard, hits home. But he climbs his way back up, by way of ambushing drug dealers and shoving his way into people's houses at gunpoint; this before we feel a transition of sorts is in progress. This is a transition the film, remember, wants you to recall is driven by pure love for another human being as well as the supposed false imprisonment of said human being; so it's all perfectly fine and all right to root for this guy and his actions, correct? That is if you buy into what the film offers in this sense.
So the film is an amusing trawl through France's underworld, as con artists; escape artists; counterfeiters and gangsters all make separate appearances. To the film's credit, director Fred Cavayé knows how to shift from horror and terror; to thrills and spills; to sheer suspense in equal measure. His film delivers on a visceral level of such a premise being executed in the manner it is with a series of scenes that exist to evoke such extreme reactions of pity, sorrow and willing. All this while its lead, practically the only real 'character' in the entire film, goes through a transition which offers a backbone to all the mayhem. It's not one of the best French efforts from recent times, but as far as this current spate of usually Luc Besson infused; kinetic; pleasure-aim; 'bang-for-your-buck' films go, Anything for Her is surprisingly above average.