Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

secondtake Rapt (2009)This is like other European crime movies I've seen, very detailed and low key, and seemingly very realistic. This one is like the others in that it's sort of interesting all along but rarely compelling. There is, in a weird way, no drama, not in movie terms. The facts are dramatic--kidnapping, torturing the hostage, that kind of thing--but the movie plays it all out in a realistic way that emphasizes police procedure, gentle conversations with loved ones left behind, and lots of waiting with the hostage takers being meanies.It's weird to belittle this movie because in a way it's really competent, even very good if this is what you want. Compared to American (Hollywood) kidnapping scenarios (that Mel Gibson movie comes to mind), this makes the Hollywood versions ridiculous. But at least the Hollywood intention to entertain, to create high drama, is fulfilled. Here, in "Rapt," we are not actually ever rapt (that is, suspended in some kind of riveted attention). If you sort of know this isn't your kind of movie, I'd skip it. If you do like very realistic crime films that are made with great attention and lots of empty spaces (at least psychically), then you might well really like this. In the details, I found the conversations between the family and cops trying to rescue him really dull and not quite believable, and I found the scenes where the hostage takers were roughing up the hostage too prolonged and unnecessary. This alone dragged the whole experience down. For me.It's worth noting that the movie scored many awards in France, and that the Rotten Tomatoes rating is really high for it. The IMDb rating seems more in line, to me, for now (about 6.7 at the time of this writing).

filmalamosa A rich businessman Graff (Yvan Attal) is kidnapped. Press publicity reveals all kinds of dirty laundry about him-- gambling debts, mistresses and so forth.His fortune is not enough to cover the kidnap ransom. Rivals in his business are not anxious to pay extra. Key players keep revealing to the police information from the kidnappers putting Graff's life in danger.He is finally released but finds no one sympathizes that much with his truly terrible ordeal instead demanding apologies for the skeletons revealed about his life.His business votes him out of the presidency his family becomes estranged.Yvan Attal is a terrific actor. I saw him in Anthony Zimmerman another fantastic movie....this one is at least as good.A must watch.

John Raymond Peterson You may read the movie's official site's outline and the IMDb storyline/summary but you will never get a feel for what this motion picture is really about until you view it for yourself. The storyline is merely the backdrop to what is actually happening. French audiences are use to the kind of scenario and the subtle direction method of a Lucas Belvaux this movie clearly is stamped with, American audiences not as much. That does not mean American (North American that is) audiences won't 'get it' but it does imply many of you reading this review may be disappointed by the movie if what you were hoping to watch was another kidnapping for ransom movie, as advertised; that, it simply is not.In my opinion, the film is a work of art in the way the characters are brought to the audience, one thin layer at the time; there are many layers peeled away during the kidnapping for ransom in progress. Like the movie "Proof of Life", the story takes place over a long period of time, compared to most all other ransom movies; that is the first of many elements that make the picture feel so real. In order to achieve its goal, the real drama experienced by the key characters, the pace has to be slow at times so we can focus on the players. I could swear the director has studied magic; who knows, I did not bother to check.The movie ends most abruptly if you are not peeking at your watch. I felt short-changed for a minute after the movie ended before I realized the point of the movie was not at all what I had fooled myself in believing. Yes, it's true, many French movies, like this one, dare to make you think even after the movie is over. What you get is not what you see but what you look for. A celebrated French author wrote long ago "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away", and this movie says a whole lot with, relatively speaking, very little fanfare.At the end of the movie, I cursed it for a few seconds, then, rewinding it at warp speed in my mind, played it back in much the same manner over a nice cup of coffee; I concluded it was brilliant. Yvan Attal delivers, as usual, a flawless performance; it is not easy to capture both the sympathy and contempt of the viewer in the same movie, but he did here. What few action scenes are needed for the kidnapping story to unfold, the movie did not quibble and delivered. The way the movie ends will have you conjuring up several more scenes to suit your idea of what should have been the better ending, but there isn't a better more purposeful ending; that sort of thing reminded me of a style more popular in French movies of a few generations ago, but it is still effective today. Enough said; you know by now if it is the kind of movie for you.

GUENOT PHILIPPE It is actually a thriller, a drama and a social film I am going to talk about. It is based on true facts: the kidnapping of an industry captain, in the 70's. A very rich, wealthy and arrogant billionaire is kidnapped and the story starts. Up to now, nothing really unusual. But the study of the characters is solid, breathtaking, all this helped by a great editing. The study of human behavior; the study of a rich man, master of everything around him, who discovers that his family, friends and business associates want, through this kidnapping affair, get rid of him, and this for different reasons ; the study of those friends, family and associates who will find out that the "boss" and family chief is actually a gambler, a playboy, a fancy SOB, nothing else. An empty human being. This movie is the study of the falling down of a man who, in another film, would have been shown as a hero. And a victim.A great film. Go and see it.