[CRITICAL] THE NAME OF MY DAUGHTER

The director Vincent Garenq is accustomed to films that address both the Justice and injustice that is faced by sometimes men. He had already traced the journey of a man wrongly accused in the case Outreau with Presumed guilty, and the one of Denis Robert in the case of Clearstream with The Investigation. It has this force rare to grasp the issues of the legal world and the depth of spirit of these everyday heroes. The earthen pot against the iron pot. In THE NAME OF MY DAUGHTER is no exception to this rule that it recognized to be fixed : bring out the sincerity of a story rooted in the real while highlighting the capacity of an ordinary man to transcend himself in the face of an exceptional event and upsetting. In adapting the book ofAndré Bamberski For justice to be rendered, Vincent Garenq plunges us into the struggle of a life of this man – almost 30 years – that seeks the truth of the circumstances of the death of his daughter Kalinka. He is played by Daniel Auteuil, amazing and especially just.

This case ended with the abduction by Bamberski of Dr. Krombach (interpreted by the troubled Sebastian Koch, recently crossed in The bridge of Spies), father-in-law of his daughter and prime suspect. Sponsor of the kidnapping, Bamberski had to deliver to French justice. ON BEHALF OF MY DAUGHTER opens it on the arrest. The director is taking the party to oscillate by multiple round-trips between 1982 and 2009, allowing you to enter the different sections of the story. It is recognized that this non-linearity in time is sometimes a little complicated to follow, even if the details, the characters, the atmosphere, the decoration, the clothes are sufficiently suggestive so that it is not known exactly in what year it is.

Vincent Garenq has felt the need to live in the viewer the ins and outs of this incredible story. He shows us the way meddled Krombach in their life, in which he is taken to seduce, or even continue his enthusiasm the wife is lonely André, Dany (always amazing Marie-José Croze, view in A famous unknown). The omnipresence intrusive of this man around his family in Morocco, and then the discovery and the forgiveness of the deceit of his wife by the worthy Andrew. The return in France, the lies Dany to cover her affair with Krombach, who, like a predator, pourfollowed. The separation, without cry or crying, for the family following the finding murky by the bailiff of adultery. André, father little now, but very loving, will have custody of the children, letting them see mother and step-father during the school holidays. It was during a stay at the Lake of Constance, the body of the young Kalinka will be discovered.

It must be recognized that André, an expert accountant little expansive, we drew up here that little bit of empathy. The director managed the tour de force and without pathos, no, show us, therefore any other man. A man who is suffering, assailed by a triple pain. Can you imagine anything worse for a parent than losing their child in unclear circumstances ? How do you continue to live with the guilt of not having been able to protect his daughter, without ever having doubted that it was not unsafe ? But also, how to accept the inappropriate behavior of his ex-wife deal with the deaths of his daughter and his lack of support ?

“Taking a sober look at the justice, in THE NAME OF MY DAUGHTER tells the story shocking and daring of a man transcended by the pain.”

The career of fighter Andre begins : first, the vital need to understand it in its cartesian logic what happened. Then discover the secrets of the good Doctor Krombach. And finally bring justice to his daughter. Path obstinate fraught with pitfalls, twists and turns, judicial, diplomatic issues between France, Germany and Austria. Readings expertise reports, attempts to arrest abortive trials, the exhumation of the body, many discoveries. The director household effects with a lot of suspense, it keeps us in suspense, he takes us by the throat ! The dialogues, co-written with Julien Rappeneau (director of Rosalie Blum), are perfect. His view of justice and judges is a bitter, lucid, sometimes cold in the back.

The turnaround story of the situation is particularly successful in THE NAME OF MY DAUGHTER. Of the victim, André will become a hunter methodically. The aggressor becomes the prey, that Andre will not cease to stalk, bring it out of its lair, not letting go of, by all means. His energy and his entire life will now be dedicated to the fight against the period of legal prescription. Andre will be helped by nice people stick together, touched by his despair and his rage to make burst the truth.

It is well known that writers must make choices when they adapt a book to film. It appears, therefore, toTHE NAME OF MY DAUGHTER with two regrets, and related to the only weak point of the film, namely, the risk of wanting to marry the point of view of the true Bamberski. In fact, the portraits that the director sets of the other two characters of this tragedy are too monolithic, missing from this setback and this complexity to which the viewer embedded in such an adventure would have been entitled. Thus, the character of Dany appears poor. Presented as a woman under the influence of Krombach, even after having left it, unable to believe in his guilt. Stuck in a real denial of reality, no doubt to avoid to suffer and to feel guilty, it appears as a detached, absent, not concerned. Similarly, the personality and motivations névrosées this doctor manipulator are deliberately nebulous. We remain on our hunger, frustrated not to have had access to the complementary vision of the daughter of Krombach, the friend of Kalinka.

These reservations aside, in THE NAME OF MY DAUGHTER , is no less remarkable film, which bears a particularly lucid on the justice. It paints an accurate portrait shocking and daring of a man transcended by the pain, causing our total membership, and empathy.

Sylvie-Noelle

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