mart-burton I thought this was a great European film by director Fred Cavayè. It blends male devotion to the woman he loves with thriller rugged stuff, as he plans to carry out her amazing prison rescue. Julien's a bright man who is told some pointers and soon has his wall covered with his hand-written cards, photos of people. And showing emotion, this normal teacher is drawn into high-risk, situations. And the husband has to hold a lot inside, even from his attractive wife, Lisa (Diane Kruger, German model and actor), so that the escape works to a happy reunion. More like a Bond with a regular life, with his son and his extended family, we want Julien to succeed. This great screenplay is well-acted and photographed. The film shows the ordinary, family world of the finely ageing French actor (Vincent Lindon) as he enters unfamiliar, knife-edge action to rescue the only woman he wants freed – his wrongly-imprisoned wife.

jotix100 Julien and Lisa Auclert, and their little son Oscar, are a middle class family living in a suburb of Paris. He is a teacher and she works in an office. One day Lisa has a scuffle with her superior at the office. That supervisor is found dead in the basement parking of the building. Her car was parked next to Lisa's. One night, Lisa, going home, found what appeared to be a fire extinguisher in front of her own car, she takes it on her hands to get it out of the way. As it happens, it was the murder weapon and she becomes the prime suspect. Eventually, she is found guilty and sent to prison.Julien's world falls apart. To complicate things, Lisa is a diabetic who must take her insulin every day. He finds himself in a predicament he never thought possible. In spite of the fact that Lisa is innocent, there is circumstantial evidence that condemns her. All efforts to get her out fail. What can Julian do? Little it seems. Going to see a man that has written a book about his own ordeal with the law, Julian learns the basics of what to do, and what to avoid if he wants to get Lisa out.First of all is the financial aspect of what he wants Lisa to escape the prison where she is serving her sentence. Then there is a problem of where to go, far away from France to a place that might offer the security of not being hunted by Interpol. Julien must get new identities for the three of them. He begins selling his possessions. Every penny counts to get what he wants. He makes a mistake in going to the wrong guy to ask for false papers. The man turns out to be a thief. He gets lucky from an unknown source and gets the new passports.The problem is how to get Lisa out from the prison. Julien begins to study carefully the planned rescue of Lisa. Using his own apartment to prepare his plan, he begins exploring every possibility. Using one wall of the apartment, he keeps scheming. For the amount of money he must have to get out of the country, Julien figures he will hit on the man that duped him out of getting the first set of identification papers. It does not come without problems as he is wounded but not too bad, or life threatening. The main problem is how to get Lisa out of prison, but Julien has it all planned to the last detail."Pour elle" is an intense film with thriller overtones, directed with style by Fred Cavaye, making his full length film debut. The director shares writing credit with Gillaume Lemans. Like all thrillers, there are aspects of the story that just do not make sense, but viewers that appreciate the genre will probably not complain about those holes in the plot, that otherwise is played to its maximum effect. The prison escape, especially is something that might fall in that category, but one makes concessions because basically one is rooting for Julien all along as he embraces the cause of Lisa from the start, fighting against all odds to get her out.The film belongs to Vincent Lindon, who gets better and better with each new project where he is asked to participate. His Julien is a man determined to take justice in his own hands to reunite his family at all costs. Diane Kruger, seen as Lisa, has little to do, spending most of the film inside the prison.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews With his wife(17 years younger, hotter and less brooding) stuck in jail facing 20 years for a murder she clearly did not commit(and all the evidence against her is circumstantial... do French police suck this hard? In general, they are painted in a rather negative light in this, quite unnecessarily), Julien(the swimming teacher from Welcome) seeks to free her so that they can be reunited and spend the rest of their lives together, and with their son(who, other than badly needing to wear a cowbell, doesn't contribute much to this other than being "cute" and a single running theme overly easily solved... and it's not the only thing this sets up that doesn't lead to anything). High hopes aside, he's only a schoolteacher... could he really pull it off? The gradual pace leaves this feeling longer than the 96 minute running time, though it is quite tense and fairly gripping. You care about these people, and you definitely *feel* the impact of every blow dealt. The exciting third act has you so consistently on the edge of your seat, you're liable to fall off. Throughout, this is filmed and edited well. All of the performances are excellent... including the six-year-old(no, really). Part of the way, this is realistic, and it certainly does surprise you. The writing is mostly solid. There is a little brutal, bloody violence in this. I recommend it to fans of crime-thrillers. 7/10

nhenryv This is a terrific film ,and does exactly what cinema should do - it makes you think, and is very entertaining. You can't just slump in front of a film like this, shovelling popcorn down your front. You have to join in. What would YOU do if someone you loved so passionately was wronged by the law? This takes it to the full extent; taking the law into your own hands - its spaghetti era Eastwood - type storytelling, told with passion, humour and guile. Cinematically, its great - how come the French so seldom make bad looking films? The acting is fantastic, with both leads acquitting themselves with great style. Like most good thriller films, it goes close to stretching credibility at times, but never veers into the ridiculous or implausible. Also weaved into the film is a vein of good fortune which drives the story along and seems in the end to be their just dessert. One small criticism; it seemed set up for a sequel - surely film makers of such taste would not lead down that road? No sequel thanks -it stands as a great piece of work as it is.Leave well alone.