I'm a big fan of Gerard Depardieu, some of my favorite French flicks are movies he's been in, Bon Voyage, The Return of Martin Guerre, Vatel, Camille Claudel... I could go on and on but will try to stop myself. So, when I read about this movie The Pact of Silence it was a no brainer that I would want to see it. Besides, it was touted as being a psychological, mystery thriller as well as a romance film so how could I go wrong? Those are my favorite kinds of movies.

Well, I have to say I was a bit disappointed, not in his performance, he did a terrific job as usual with the part he played but I wasn't too thrilled with the actress who was his co-star Elodie Bouchez, (Gaelle and Sarah). She had a difficult task since she was playing two roles but there really wasn't much of a difference in either role as she played them and was quite sullen throughout the film, she definitely had reason to be sullen, but even during what was supposed to be the "Romantic" angle?

The story was quite complex. A young Carmelite nun, (Sarah) gets very sick and collapses. At the same time, a long distance away, another young woman, (Gaelle), wakes up to find her prison cell on fire. At first we don't know that this is the story of identical twins so I was a bit confused from the start. Gaelle is having a difficult time in prison but why was she there to begin with? Sarah is very ill and Mother Emmanuelle, (Carmen Maura), doesn't know what to do. Help is called in and Joachim, (Depardieu) is sent to see her, he is both a doctor and a priest so that makes sense I guess. Trouble is, when he visits her he doesn't find anything physically wrong with her. Mother Emmanuelle isn't very helpful or pleased that he is there, she wants to treat Sarah with herbs and other natural remedies. In the meantime Gaelle doesn't feel well either and seems to have the same symptoms.

He decides to dig deeper into this troubled young woman's past and discovers a whole world of deep dark secrets, though not the answers. At least in the beginning.

One of the secrets though is that Sarah has a twin in prison who is there for committing an atrocious crime and was sent to jail at the same time as she went into the convent. After investigating the subject of twins he begins to think they are physically and emotionally connected as twins are known to be. When he meets Gaelle he just knows there is some terrible secret she is keeping and soon becomes infatuated and obsessed with her…he also decides to learn the truth about what is going on….But remember, he is a priest, not allowed to become infatuated with any woman.

We also learn through fast flash-backs that Joachim has quite a violent past of his own but its never made clear just what or who is involved in that back story. But I assumed that is why he became a priest. He is told by his superiors not to get involved in this most bizarre problem of the twins…But, does he listen?

Things get very complicated from there as he delves further and further into their story, there are threats made by other people against him and his investigation but there again it wasn't clear as to why. At least to me.

I'm not going to give any more of the story away because there are some big reveals made and an interesting, very complex twist. When the true story of the twins came out it is quite shocking. So was the ending.

The direction was good, especially concerning the flashback scenes of the girls when they were young….I enjoyed the cinematography filmed in part in Paris and Portugal which was very interesting to watch, but what stops me from giving this review a glowing rating is the acting. As I mentioned, Depardieu did a good job as always in his role completely immersing himself in the mystery of the twins but, for some reason, I just couldn't get into Elodie Bouchez's portrayal of both Sarah and Gaelle. Just too stoic and unemotional regardless of what scenes she was in and what was going on around her. I felt that the characters were played much too much the same as both twins and the romantic angle just didn't jell for me. She just never showed any emotion even when she was supposed to be happy. The ending, left me a bit mystified as to what actually occurred. I had to watch it again and still wasn't sure.

As a suspense mystery story, it just didn't have enough to make me sit on the edge of my seat. Yes, there were a few good scenes and the big deadly secret, once revealed, was a surprise so I wouldn't call The Pact of Silence a total loss. When Depardieu becomes the detective besides the priest/doctor I really enjoyed that aspect of the story. His role of a priest who fell from the grace of his church is essential to the story but to what degree does he fall? And why was the Church so intent on not wanting the truth to come out? Does he find out what ails Sarah and in fact Gaelle as well? Does he discover the lie that drives the secret? The deadly secret that propels the Pact of Silence .

Would I recommend this movie? Well yes, but mostly to die-hard French/foreign movie fans or fans of Depardieu, there was a decent mystery story, some suspense and a surprise ending along with some nice scenery so I give this film a rating of 3. If it wasn't for Depardieu the rating would have been lower, in my opinion that is.

There wasn't much to watch on the DVD extras just a commentary with the director and Elodie Bouchez but there were no sub-titles as they spoke to each other so I didn't bother. I think I would have watched it a bit if I could have understood what they were saying just to get a better idea of some of the stranger aspects of the film…oh well.

Running time: 89 mins
In French with English subtitles

Rating R...some nudity and profanity

Main Cast:
Gerard Depardieu - Joachim
Elodie Bouchez - Sarah/Gaelle
Carmen Maura - Mother Emmanuelle

Director:
Graham Guit
Writer:
Roselyne Bosch
Producer:
Ilan Goldman


I'll be adding this review to my French/English write-off hope you come join the fun!





Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV