FRANTIC
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1988 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Harrison Ford stars in a
straightforward thriller from writer/director Roman
Polanski. While mostly done in Hitchcock's style, it
manages more credibility at the expense of some of the
panache. Rating: +1.
Richard Walker (played by Harrison Ford) is in Paris for a medical convention. He banters with his wife on the way to the hotel, checks in, and takes a shower. When he comes out of the shower his wife seems to have stepped out. Room service brings in an ordered breakfast and Walker eats it and takes a nap. When he wakes up, still no wife. He goes to the lobby to look for her. One by one, he checks out possibilities of what could have happened to her. Soon his worst fears are confirmed. He learns that she has been kidnapped. The police are surly; the American authorities can do nothing. Walker has to take matters into his own hands. This is not too original a plot and, in truth, much of FRANTIC has a ring of familiarity. In some ways it follows the classic style of a Hitchcock thriller. The one-word title, the innocent bystander hero, a genuine McGuffin, even rooftop struggles. Where it strays from being Hitchcockian is in its nearly humorless approach and its cold-fish hero. Harrison Ford is nowhere near a personable one as a Cary Grant or a James Stewart. That makes the acting a few steps closer to reality, but the viewer is left to guess what the character must be feeling rather than feeling with the character. We are drawn to Harrison Ford, but at arm's length. With Hitchcock and the right actor we would actually be living the adventure with the character. On the other hand, with most Hitchcock films it would be easier to pick holes in the plot. Even a VERTIGO has a plot that entirely hinges on a man recognizing a specific Spanish villa from a description from somebody's dream. Following the initial events that set the action of FRANTIC in motion, events follow a suspenseful but logical course. (The major unexplained point of the film is how an action that was not intended to be a kidnapping--and seemingly could easily have avoided being turned into one--was so botched.)
Ford's search for his missing wife takes him to, if not Paris's underbelly, at least somewhere below Paris's waist. His best clue leads him to Michelle, a sinuous drugged punker played by Emmanuelle Seigner, who provides a somewhat less innocent bystander to the plot and provides the attractive female lead required in any Roman-Polanski-directed film. As a cliche-buster, however, Walker reacts with total disinterest to Michelle's attempts at seduction. First, last, and always, he is in this to get back his wife (played by Betty Buckley, who played a sympathetic teacher in CARRIE, a sympathetic mother in EIGHT IS ENOUGH, and an unsympathetic singer in TENDER MERCIES).
FRANTIC is a surprisingly straightforward thriller from director and co-scripter Roman Polanski, who is usually known for for more convoluted and psychological storylines. Rate it a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper
mtgzz!leeper@rutgers.rutgers.edu
Copyright 1988 Mark R. Leeper
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