The Adversary (2002) User Reviews

Oh boy! Auteuil!

[hokeybutt · 7/10 · 9 October 2004]

THE ADVERSARY (3+ outta 5 stars)

Chilling French suspense tale (based on a true story) of a seemingly well-to-do doctor, a husband and father, who turns out to be a complete fraud. He pretends to go to work in a prestigious medical building but all he does is loiter and kill time until he has to return home. He takes money from family and friends, pretending to invest it in foreign ventures... but he just uses their money to live on, buying his family more expensive homes and automobiles (plus a hot, young mistress for himself). But eventually people start demanding to see some returns on their investments... or want to withdraw large sums that the good "doctor" just doesn't have. So he keeps stalling and putting them off until he runs totally out of options and his whole world comes crashing down... resulting in his final, chilling actions. Terrific performance by Daniel Auteuil... who has the difficult job of trying to engender sympathy for a man who deserves none.

Hail Auteuil!

[fiozinho · 7/10 · 9 January 2003]

The magnificent Daniel Auteuil is ... well ... magnificent once again in this study of a common man whose world turns unaccountably pear-shaped, and who is powerless to get out of the increasingly large hole he's dug for himself. The sequencing of the film is very neatly done - we know from the word 'go' that Faure has done something horrendous, we're pretty sure what it is, and we are led to find out why through a complex series of flashbacks. The art of Auteuil is in his ability to make Faure a sympathetic character, despite his many flaws and the gruesome crime he commits. The painstakingly constructed portrait of a man in torment may get painted on a little too thickly at times, but Auteuil's descent from mixed-up family-man to lethal psychopath is gripping stuff.

Immediately you know what has happened and still you keep watching it until the end

[philip_vanderveken · 8/10 · 18 May 2005]

SPOILER: Once in a while you come across a movie about which you know from the first moment on what has happened and still you aren't able to turn it off or to switch to another channel. You keep watching, because you want to know everything about it. Why that is, I don't know, but I find it very intriguing and I guess it only proves the quality of these movies.

"L'Adversaire" or "The Adversary" is such a movie. From the first moment on you know that Daniel Auteuil's character Jean-Marc Faure has done something terrible to his family. You know he has murdered his wife and children, but you don't know why. Only when you keep watching until the end you'll see that the man has been living a lie for the past twenty years and that he wasn't able anymore to continue like that. He had made everybody believe that he was a successful doctor, working for a prestigious medical institution. Next to his 'dayjob' he also invested money for his friends and relatives, which in reality he used to live on, buying his family more expensive homes and cars, and sustaining a young mistress for himself. But eventually people wanted to see some returns on their investments or wanted to withdraw large sums that he couldn't possibly give them. So he kept stalling and putting them off until he ran totally out of options and his whole world came crashing down ... resulting in his final, chilling act of desperation.

What perhaps is even the most chilling thing about this movie is that it has been based on true events. Yes, if you turn on the news, you regularly get to hear news about a father who has murdered his entire family because they were in big financial problems, but it is never shown in so much detail as it is in this movie. In this movie you get to see, thanks to a complex series of flashbacks, the investigation after the murder, showing how he starts getting into trouble until he has only one option left. I'm pretty sure that a lot of people had to swallow a couple of times when seeing it all and I admit that I was one of them.

Next to the chilling story, the acting is something else that deserves noticing. I'm not very familiar with these actors, but they all did a nice job. Especially Daniel Auteuil (the only actor that I have heard of before), who is absolutely terrific. He has managed to help you understand why the man did it, without saying that what the man did was right or wrong. I'm not saying that you'll like the man, but you'll understand him and that's something very special for a movie like this one. All in all this is some very powerful cinema like you don't get to see it very often. Even if you aren't too familiar with the director or with the actors, even when you aren't used to watch foreign movies, you still should give this one a try. It certainly deserves it. I reward this movie with an 8/10.

Desperate world of Emmanuel Carrere works well on screen

[jakkiih · 7/10 · 11 June 2006]

Emmanuel Carrere's novels are chilling, desperate and very well told. This adaptation to screen by Nicole Garcia works pretty well. If it wasn't based on a true story, you'd think that it's silly and a bit too much. The movie certainly doesn't leave a happy feeling with you, it's hopeless and sad, in everyone's point of view. So the story is told in the beginning of the movie, in the matter of fact before to movie starts, but the point isn't that at all. Film is about what's going on inside Jean Claude Romand's (played by great Daniel Auteuil) head and life during the times before he murders everyone he knows. The music in L'Adversaire is by Angelo Badalamenti, one of my favorite composers (escpecially Twin Peaks -soundtrack), and it fits perfectly. Latest adaptation of Carrere's work is La Moustache and it's directed by himself

The life and the tragic end of a lyer and his family

[germouse · 9 September 2002]

This movie is adapted from a true story, the one of Jean-Claude Roman, a man who made his family and friends believe for 18 years that he was a searcher at the OAS when he didn't even had a job. For 18 long years, he had been crooking his parents and fooling his relations till he finally got discovered. He then killed his wife, children, mother and father. Revealing the end of this story won't bother the appreciation of this movie, since it's a well known news item in France that deeply moved the population in the 90's. As a matter of fact, the story is fascinating enough to make the script interesting and that is the main problem of the film. It relies almost essentially on the unbelievable destiny of Jean-Marc Faure and the performance of Daniel Auteuil, one the best French actors actors actually. His acting is sober and at some moments is approaching madness with convincing realism. But the staging and the whole ambiance remain cold and distant as if there was since the beginning a shift between Faure and the others. This creates an embarrassment that keep us from understanding him.

Anyway, it is worth seeing this movie, above all if you don't know the story yet. The only fact to know that this really happened makes you watch it with interest. Another movie was made upon this story, `L'emploi du temps' by Laurent Cantet.

good shocking movie...

[jesuvhe · 7/10 · 1 April 2003]

It' sad, It's Hard but is a nice movie, some times is touching but the leit motiv of the film is how can a man act all his life pretending to be another completely different person, and anyone could notice anything, that's bizarre. That's were the movie lacks a reason or a mixture of thoughts to express to explain how could it be.

Disturbing TRUE story

[groggo · 9/10 · 21 August 2007]

I saw L'Adversaire last night (20 Aug 07), and I'm still trying to sort it out. It's very disturbing, possibly because it's based on a true story (an UNBELIEVABLY real and devastatingly true story; as the old saw has it, you couldn't make this stuff up).

Director Nicole Garcia has apparently decided to present the truth, more or less, as it happened. She has done a wonderful job with material written by her son, Frederic Belier-Garcia, and Emmanuel Carrere, upon whose novel the film is based. This must have been very difficult to transpose to the screen -- the subject matter requires a bombardment of raw, visceral emotions.

L'Adversaire is based on the sensational 1993 French murder case involving Jean-Claude Romand, who murdered his wife, two children and his parents before attempting suicide himself. After almost two decades of blatant deceit (not a mere 15 years as shown in the film), he was about to bring shame on everyone, most of all upon himself. Rather than face the inevitable, he commits the atrocities.

Romand was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996.

Everyone close to him believes that the cinematic Romand -- Jean-Marc Faure (Daniel Auteuil) -- is a medical doctor at the World Health Organization (a UN agency) in Geneva. He doesn't work there at all -- he isn't even a doctor. He hangs around the WHO halls, briefcase in hand, a haunted, sad, lonely man; he pops in on occasional conferences; he sleeps, listens to his car radio, giggles, reads newspapers, eats, and then, after his 'full day,' he goes home to his wife and two children. He carries on this fiction for 15 long years, financing it on 'donations' from family and friends who believe Faure is investing their money for handsome returns.

The days of reckoning come, as they must, and Faure begins to implode. What follows is a minimalist excursion into terror, but with an important caveat: there's very little blood. The viewer fills in the killing scenes, which, as Hitchcock knew so well, is always more frightening.

Daniel Auteuil as Faure is perfect. This is a difficult performance -- how does the viewer empathize with such an ostensible monster? And yet we do, based on Auteuil's performance. He emerges as a pathetic, tortured man who adopts his elaborate NON-lifestyle early, as a 'stop-gap' perhaps. But the years zip by and he finds himself in so deeply that he cannot extricate himself. After seeing Auteuil's magnificent Gallic face twist and turn into 100 degrees of irony, desperation, joy, and pain, you're left to conclude that no other French actor alive could play this part, unless it would be Aurelien Recoing. He superbly played a stunning similar role (without the murders) in L'Emploi du temps (Time Out), which was released in 2001, a year before L'Adversaire.

The lovely Geraldine Pailhas as Faure's bewildered and long-suffering wife doesn't have very much to do, but she brings shining femininity to her part. Emmanuelle Devos is, as usual, outstanding as Faure's flighty girlfriend.

The film has a few problems: there's a bumpy, fuzzy beginning, and the flashbacks are disruptive and often confusing. Auteuil was 52 years old when he made the film, too old for a man who left medical school (a drop-out) only 15 years before. And we're left with a big question at the end: did he live or die? If you didn't know the real story of Jean-Claude Romand, that lingers as a loose end with the viewer.

Despite these deficiencies, it really doesn't matter. This is just a very disturbing REAL story -- Sartrean nothingness, existentialism brought to life -- the 'non-person,' the artificial human being who lives a titanic lie for a very long time and gets away with it. No one really seems to notice, which tells us a lot about our own sense of self-absorption.

This film is very dark, but it couldn't be anything else. We are looking into the face of hell, an assault of demons, through the eyes of Auteuil. L'Adversaire is a splendid exploration of that part of all of us that is afflicted by deviant behaviour. We all deceive, we all lie; it's just a matter of how far we are willing to take it.

Much better than L'emploi du temps

[aveilbrief · 9/10 · 17 March 2005]

What a chilling experience, this terrific movie. Jean-Marc Faure's loneliness in conference halls and on the highway is so painful that it's hard not to feel compassion for him. All my credits to Auteuil and Garcia for this moving film. As you probably know, L'adversaire was based on a tragedy that truly happened some ten years ago. It didn't just inspire one, but two directors. The other film based on this story is L'emploi du temps, by Laurent Cantet. I watched it yesterday, and I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. Having read the very enthusiastic comments on this site, I expected a film of equal quality as L'adversaire but the latter outclassed it by far. I missed the palpable loneliness and desperateness in l'Adversaire, and Daniel Auteuil is in my opinion simply a more interesting and accomplished actor than Aurélien Recoing. If you haven't seen either of the films, I recommend you watch L'emploi du temps first, or just L'adversaire. It's always interesting to compare, but if you have already seen L'adversaire, you might be in for a little disappointment.

Infuriating

[shanayneigh · 2/10 · 8 July 2021]

I wish this film had been in the hands of a more competent director and writer. I knew absolutely nothing about this case or movie, but the filmmakers manage to spoil absolutely everything of value within the first couple of minutes. (Ironically enough the IMDb summary is also a spoiler...)

The structure of jumping backwards and forward in time effectively undercuts even the slightest hope of any tension. If this movie is anywhere near the truth, it's impressive in a way that a man with absolutely zero charm or charisma managed to dupe everyone around him for almost two decades.

The story is there for a good movie, it just wasn't this movie.

this is a lie

[dbdumonteil · 8/10 · 25 April 2007]

A first rate actress, Nicole Gacia also produced films of varying quality: "Un Week-End Sur Deux" (1990) was a estimable piece of work but its follow-up "le Fils Préféré" (1994) got bogged down in a river of clichés. These two works revealed Garcia's strong interest for the family and "L'Adversaire" revives her fascination for it. It is sourced from Emmanuel Carrère's novel which is a true story. On the 09th January 1993, Jean Claude Romand killed his wife, children and parents because he was about to be unmasked. The investigation will reveal that he wasn't a doctor but an impostor who had been lying for eighteen years. The female director changed the names but kept the thread of the last moments of this extreme story.

Nicole Garcia walks away with honors and respect of a story which was difficult to shot in its entirety: how to assess a solitary, absent, tormented life of an unfathomable man with elusive thoughts facing the others? Some moments were also unimaginable (the killing of the children but with an accurate sense of directing, by keeping a low profile, by highlighting the somber scenery when her hero is all alone without extreme effects, the female director makes us really feel the loneliness of this mysterious man who just confides his secrets to a videotape. What increases the malaise is that Garcia removed any explanation or even little clues likely to shed light on his demeanor. With Faure's nonsensical actions and as the tragedy looms, the viewer will learn some astounding facts about his past like his refusal to pass his medicine exams in his second year at university.

Daniel Auteuil is like good wine: he improves with age and "l'Adversaire" bears witness of it. He's just mind-boggling and it's impossible not to remain indifferent to this incredible experience which really happened.

Terribly boring

[smar66 · 4/10 · 1 August 2021]

Culd have been a great film, with a chilling story (even more so because you know it is true), is actually terribly boring. Nothing more to say about it.

A dark, sadly true story, with a masterly performance of Daniel Auteuil

[xu · 8/10 · 1 October 2002]

This is a tough, poignant film - as it evolves, the viewer becomes submerged in the dark universe of the main character, a man living a lie for years in front of his family and friends. Daniel Auteuil is, as usual, absolutely masterful, expressing extremely well the quiet and sombre nature of the character and the conflicts going on in his mind. Sadly a true story, it approaches us to the dark universe of a person capable of the worst to hide the truth.

Amazing film which will leave a lasting impression

[crowley-4 · 9/10 · 7 February 2005]

I must admit my French is a little rusty and I could have done with some subtitles so I was having trouble following the first half of the film on DVD. I borrowed it because I think Daniel Auteil is a good actor and had no idea what it was about except something about a man who lives a lie.

I watched it through to the end and recalled reading so many similar true stories in the last few years on cnn.com that I really got a shock by the end. As one of the scriptwriters comments in the extras on the French edition of the DVD says, "those scenes brought the film back into reality".

I found some of the editing a little jarring but perhaps that was intentional. It all makes sense in the end. Interestingly the producer - again, on the French edition of the DVD - said that she just wanted to follow the main character through his life without judging or diagnosing him, so perhaps those of you who know something about psychiatry will have a different perspective.

Stick with it, revel in the details of the film, and hug your family tightly afterwards.

never waist 2 hours of your life

[absentpresence · 15 October 2003]

Excellent performance by Daniel Auteuil; very inspired and gentle music; The image is great, too. But one should ask himself : Why? Why make a movie about someone who suffers senslessly his entire life, and eventualy kills his whole family because of his insanity .. Is it worth seeing? Well I guess you'll have to figure out the answer for yourself. But even with enough popcorn for 3 hours, one should never waist 2 hours of his precious life.

Slow Burn

[billcr12 · 5/10 · 14 March 2023]

Had I not recently read the book on which the movie is based, I would have been totally lost with the scattered structure of the film.

A supposed doctor working for the WHO is the main character. It is a true crime story that is well known in France. The "doctor" is in reality, a con man who manages to steal from both family and friends in order to support a nice upper class lifestyle. He even managed to take $900,000 francs from his mistress.

The editing is horrendous, jumping back and forth with no regard to continuity. I was worn out by the over two hour length of this dreary drama.

I highly recommend the book by Emmanuel Carrere of the same title from 2000.

Incredible story!

[fallara · 8/10 · 29 September 2003]

This movie which is based on a true story is very incredible to believe it really happened in real life....this could have been an excellent Stephen King plot...but no...it's even scarier to know that someone could be able to do such a terrible thing. A word of wisdom, don't read the story before watching it...that's what I did and I was terribly surprised !

Unique cinema

[paidinfull13 · 8/10 · 19 January 2018]

The pacing of this film is unique. The intrigue makes it easy to remain engaged and interested until the very end.

Even if you know how the story unfolds, the acting keeps you glued to the screen. You will be touched by this story.

Without it being a gory horror film, I guarantee some bad feelings

[etuc-1 · 9/10 · 16 July 2016]

In "L'adversaire" we have probably one of the best French actors of his generation.

Daniel Auteuil could be compared to Dustin Hoffman in many ways with great depths in his acting.

Any character from Ugolin in "Jean de Florette", (Claude Berri's masterpiece), a simple minded crop farmer in the deep south. To this horrendous father and husband capable of the unbearable, unthinkable and terrifying act. But by way of some incredible acting, Daniel Auteuil never the less manages to give this gruesome character a humane nearly touching side, as he strives not to drown under the burden of his life long lie. I must admit that the film shattered me and I felt quite nauseated. It could only have been made by a women like Nicole Garcia, only her talent could deal with a subject such as this one and come out with a film that succeeds in pinning you to your seat, no matter how much you would like to look away, without turning it into a horror film. In a way this film has a certain Hitchcock feel to it.

# 04 : It must be Garcia (dvd)

[lamegabyte · 3 June 2019]

This so powerful drama should have deserved a more talented director than the above mentioned. For a man who lied all along his life to his families and who kills them all, the feeling and narrative chosen by the director fails.

From the start, she depicts this psychotic man as psychotic and that's a gross error: he fooled his families: her wife, parents, friends didn't see anything for years.

Another failure is to mix the deceiving with the murders. All the crescendo of his madness is killed from the beginning. She even writes the final on the beginning credits. In a way, she seems afraid of taking the heart of the subject, of going down into his darkness.

Then, the casting of Devos as his mistress is stupid in so far as his wife is Geraldine. The opposite should have been better.

At last, Badalamenti gives her a wonderful score and she under-use it.

What's left so? A moving Geraldine as a poor and lost wife, a frightening Auteuil who should have been like this only at the end.

In a way, you can understand why Kubrick or Coppola are really masters because those ones have really transcended the madness.

Auteuil's best performance

[insightflow-20603 · 10/10 · 13 December 2023]

I must have watched this film over fifty times. Haven't read Emmanuel Carrer's book yet, but I'm so enthralled by Daniel Auteuil's clinically-precise, subtle, in-depth portrayal of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Indeed, the film, and I suppose the book, is a study. Emmanuelle Devos is also fantastic. This is a film one cannot watch with the corner of the eye, it requires analytical perception.

One may couple it with Hanneke's Cache from the same period - Auteuil's roles are similar, although here he's unsurpassable due to the intricacy of the material - and, of course, his own artistic merit.

The liar

[searchanddestroy-1 · 9 February 2024]

This true story had already been told one year earlier, back in 2001, with L'EMPLOI DU TEMPS, a film that many viewers found less interesting than this one. Let me say that I don't agree at all. Both are outstanding films. Nicole Garcia's film and the Laurent Cantet's one. Here, Daniel Auteuil is purely awesome, but he is not alone, the whole result is engrossing, riveting, the perfect example of a flawless movie. Such a story has not been remade by the American film industry, at least as far as I know,, and that's very strange. I mean such a scheme has not been made before, but maybe I am wrong after all. A real must see. From a true story, I repeat. Chilling.