Butler's Cinema Scene

“THE BIG PICTURE” My rating: B (Opens Dec. 14 a the Tivoli)

114 minutes | MPAA rating: NR

“The Big Picture” isn’t a crime movie, exactly, although someone is murdered in it.

Eric Lartigau’s film reminds me a lot of Patricia Highsmith’s brand of psychological thriller (the “Ripley” stories), where character study outweighs mayhem.

Our protagonist is Paul (Romain Duris), a Paris attorney with a wife, a couple of cute kids, and a house in the ‘burbs.

Paul once aspired to be a fine arts photographer, but marriage and fatherhood steered him toward the law, a gig lucrative enough that he now can afford his own state-of-the-art photo studio in the basement…not that he ever really does more than hang out down there.

Lately Paul’s been feeling lots of pressure. His law partner (Catherine Deneuve) announces she is dying of an unspecified illness. And his wife Sara (Marina Fois) seems to be slipping away as well.  Their marriage is circling the drain.

The first 40 minutes of “The Big Picture” establishes the parameters of Paul’s unfulfilling existence.

His suspicion that Sara is having an affair leads to a confrontation with a mutual friend, Gregoire (Eric Ruf), a struggling photographer who unlike Paul chose to follow his muse even if there’s no payoff in sight.

Insults are hurled. Blows are exchanged. And suddenly Paul finds himself standing over Gregoire’s corpse.

At this point “The Big Picture” becomes almost an entirely different movie.  After a few moments of panic, Paul gets to work. He puts the body in the trunk of Gregoire’s car and cleans up the blood. He uses the dead man’s email to send out news that Gregoire will be out of the country on assignment.

Paul fakes his own death in a sailing accident, than relocates to Montenegro in the former Yugoslavia and, still impersonating Gregoire, takes up residence in a hilltop village with a smashing panoramic view of the coast.

He starts taking photos.

Branka Katic and Roman Duris

“The Big Picture” (the original French title translates as something like “the man who wanted to change his life”) is about second chances, about rebuilding one’s existence from scratch. In this Paul/Gregoire is abetted by a boozy newspaper editor (Niels Arestrup) and the paper’s photo editor (Branka Katic).

Before long the photographer has a bustling career, a love affair, and a major gallery show. Of course,  the closer Paul/Gregoire comes to realizing his artistic dreams, the more likely his crime and true identity will be discovered.

“The Big Picture” has some moments of tension (especially in the late going, when you can practically feel the noose tightening around Paul’s neck) and an atmosphere of thick existential anxiety.

The acting –- especially from Duris — is so solid that we find ourselves being seduced by Paul’s newfound freedom, while still marveling at how quickly long-standing links to family, community, and even morality can be forgotten.

| Robert W. Butler