The Crimson Rivers [Blu-ray]

Director: Mathieu Kassovitz, Olivier Dahan Mathieu Kassovitz

Overview

Two very different policemen seeking the truth about separate crimes find a terrible common link in this thriller from France. Pierre Niemans (Jean Reno) is a noted French detective assigned to investigate a brutal murder at a prestigious college located high in the Alps; the victim was first disfigured and dismembered, then strangled to death. Niemans soon realizes the murder was not an isolated incident when several similarly mangled corpses are discovered. Meanwhile, in a town 150 miles away, a young police investigator, Max Kerkerian (Vincent Cassel), is called in to investigate when the grave of a ten-year-old girl is dug up and ransacked. While interviewing the mother (Dominique Sanda) of the young girl, he crosses paths with Niemans, whose investigation has led him to the same town, and the two men begin to realize a surprising and troubling link between the crimes.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/21/2023
UPC:	0738329261856
Original Release:	2000
Rating:	R
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Language:	English
Time:	1:46:00
Sales rank:	4,975

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jean Reno	Pierre Niemans
Vincent Cassel	Max Kerkerian,Dr. Bernard Cherneze
Nadia Fares	Fanny Ferreira/Judith Herault
Dominique Sanda	Sister Andree
Karim Belkhadra	Captain Dahmane
Didier Flamand	Dean
Philippe Nahon	Man at Petrol Station
Laurent Lafitte	Dean's Son
Robert Gendreu	Cemetery Warden
Christophe Bernard	Skinhead
Nicky Naude	Skinhead
Tonio Descanvelle	Sarzac Policeman
Olivier Rousset	Sarzac Policeman
Francoise Loreau	Nun in Convent
Vincent Tulli	Computer Technician
Nicolas Koretzky	Computer Cop
Sami Zitouni	Youth on Sarzac Estate,Youth on Sarzac Estate
Christophe Rossignon	Policeman in Station Wagon on Bridge
Dominique Bettenfeld	Policeman with Theory
Alexis Robin	Blind Child
Alain Guerillot	Skinhead Cafe Owner
Laurent Avare	Remy Caillois
Olivier Morel	Philippe Sertys
Vincent Schimenti	Policeman
Nicky Naudé	Skinhead #2
François Levantal	Pathologist
Francine Bergé	Headmistress
Benoit Magimel	Actor
Camille Natta	Actor
Christopher Lee	Actor
Johnny Hallyday	Actor
Gabrielle Lazure	Actor
Augustin Legrand	Actor
Jean-Pierre Cassell	Actor
Francine Berge	Actor
Francois Leventhal	Actor
Bruno Coulais	Composer

Technical Credits

Mathieu Kassovitz

Jean-Christophe Grangé

Luc Besson

Mathieu Kassovitz	Director,Screenwriter
Jean-Christophe Grangé	Screenwriter
Alain Goldman	Producer
Pierre-Jacques Benichou	Casting
Christian Guillon	Special Effects
Pascal Buron	Special Effects
Virginie Arnaud	Stunts
Philippe Amouroux	Sound Effects
Olivier Dahan	Director
Luc Besson	Screenwriter
Cyril Holtz	Sound/Sound Designer
Vincent Tulli	Sound Editor,Sound/Sound Designer
Alain Golman	Producer

Editorial Reviews

In a picturesque, isolated university town in the French Alps, a horribly mutilated corpse requires the expert skills of Paris murder investigator Pierre Niemans (Jean Reno). He quickly intuits that the torture the victim suffered is actually a message. Meanwhile, miles away, a brash young detective named Max Kerkerian (Vincent Cassel) finds himself re-examining the death of a young girl 20 years earlier after her tomb is desecrated. As the mystery surrounding the girl's death deepens, and the bodies in the Alps begin to pile up, the two men find themselves following the same set of gruesome clues to an even darker secret. There is nothing especially new in this dark intellectual thriller, but director Mathieu Kassovitz gets all he can out of the picturesque locations (some particularly breathtaking scenes were shot on top of a glacier) and the rough-edged charm of his two protagonists. Reno's Niemans, perpetually rumpled, unshaven, and always in search of a light for his cigarette, sticks out like a sore thumb as he methodically conducts his investigation among the well-scrubbed students and faculty of the elite, strangely insular university where the murders are taking place. Cassel's hot-headed Kerkerian, on the other hand, likes to smoke a little dope while he's on duty and isn't above stealing cars or Kung-fuing a pack of skinheads into submission when he has to. If the film has one flaw, it's a somewhat confusing plot twist at the end, but otherwise, Les Rivieres Pourpres is a well-made and suitably engrossing thriller.