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Big Picture, The

Drama

Paul Exben is a success story - partner in one of Paris's most exclusive law firms, big salary, big house, glamorous wife and two sons straight out of a Gap catalog. But when he finds out that Sarah, his wife, is cheating on him with Greg Kremer, a local photographer, a rush of blood provokes Paul into a fatal error.

Standing over the corpse of his wife's lover, Paul knows that his perfect life has gone for good. But by assuming the dead man's identity and fleeing for an isolated part of former Yugoslavia on the beautiful Adriatic coast, Paul gets another shot at being himself and, at last, seeing the big picture. Read more …


The critical consensus

As a study of a man pushed to the edge and unable to run away from himself, The Big Picture is as fascinating as it is slow-burning.

****(*)Kaleem Aftab, The List, 23/05/2011

Built around a multilayered performance from Duris, it’s a film unafraid to pose more questions than it answers.

***(*)(*)Tom Dawson, Total Film, 12/07/2011

A few plot holes hold back what is otherwise a well cast and compelling picture.

***(*)(*)David Parkinson, Empire Online, 18/07/2011

Thoughtfully and skilfully done. Duris is superb.

Henry Barnes, Little White Lies, 21/07/2011

The Big Picture, based on a 1997 Douglas Kennedy novel, is a strange film: a vagrant, fitful mixture of domestic drama, existential thriller in the vein of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley series, and evocation of the underbelly of new Europe.

****(*)Sukhdev Sandhu, The Telegraph, 21/07/2011

The direction from Eric Lartigau keeps things moving along fast and furious: preposterous it may be, the movie is carried off with some style.

***(*)(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 21/07/2011

French drama takes a turn for the ridiculous.

Paul Greenwood, Evening Times, 21/07/2011

Right until the very end, The Big Picture continues to throw in plot twists and to undermine our expectations about its main character.

****(*)Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent, 22/07/2011

A Gallic triumph - and one of the edgiest films you'll see all year.

****(*)Daily Record, 22/07/2011

Comes unravelled like a sweater snagged on barbed wire.

**(*)(*)(*)Nigel Andrews, Financial Times, 21/07/2011

Duris's understated performance adds layer upon layer of complexity to a character suddenly forced to wrestle with who he is in an extreme situation.

****(*)Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 23/07/2011

This is cleverly developed, if not entirely convincing, and the film has some suggestive twists on the way to its ironic ending. As always, Romain Duris is a compelling presence.

Philip French, The Observer, 24/07/2011

Big Picture, The

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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