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Anything for Her

7/10

Stars: Vincent Lindon, Diane Kruger, Lancelot Roch, Olivier Marchal, Remi Martin, Liliane Rovere

Director: Fred Cavaye

Even though credibility escapes some time before wrongly-convicted Diane Kruger has a chance to get out of prison, this is a decent French thriller with just a few lulls, some suspenseful moments, and intelligent use of the CinemaScope screen.

Passionately in love with much-older husband Julien (Lindon), Lisa (Kruger) is suddenly siezed by police for the murder of her boss in a car park. They'd earlier quarrelled, there's blood on Lisa's coat and her fingerprints are on the murder weapon.

Director Cavaye casts just enough doubt on her avowed innocence to keep the tension hopping. Julien, though, is in no doubt. After every legal process has been exhausted without success, Julien is still determined to win his wife her freedom - by breaking her out.

Alas, his first attempt at getting fake exit papers ends in his being beaten up and robbed of his money. Finally he does get passports under false names for themselves and their young son, then begins examining every detail of the prison and his wife's life there to find a way out.

Meanwhile, Lisa is going out of her mind in jail and starts refusing to take her insulin shots. When transfer to a distant prison is mooted, Julien's window of opportunity gets very short.

Lindon seems a little long in the tooth and insufficiently equipped (his character's a teacher) for he-man stuff that includes shooting drug dealers and beating up prison guards, but he conveys Julien's desperation well enough to (just) get away with it, at least while the action's going on. Kruger, as always, looks worth the risk and her performance is pretty good. A Hollywood remake of this Hitchcock-style thriller seems more than likely.

David Quinlan

France 2008. UK Distributor: Metrodome. Duboicolor.
96 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 2.

Review date: 31 May 2009