Sans laisser de traces

2010 French film

Sans laisser de traces
Film poster
Directed by	Grégoire Vigneron
Written by	Laurent Tirard Grégoire Vigneron
Produced by	Marc Missonnier Olivier Delbosc
Starring	Benoît Magimel Julie Gayet François-Xavier Demaison
Narrated by	Benoît Magimel
Cinematography	Laurent Dailland
Edited by	Valérie Deseine
Music by	Christophe La Pinta
Production companies	Fidélité Films Scope Pictures^[1]
Distributed by	Cineart Mars Distribution^[2] Wild Bunch^[3] Mongrel Media
Release date	10 March 2010
Running time	95 minutes
Countries	France Belgium
Languages	French English
Box office	$505.000^[4]

Sans laisser de traces (also known as Immaculate, Traceless, Indelible and Indélébile^[5]) is a 2010 French crime-thriller film and Grégoire Vigneron's directorial debut.^[6]^[7]

Plot

Étienne is about to succeed his father-in-law as CEO of a French company which employs 15.000 people. Some days after they have discussed their according speeches, Étienne also learns that his beautiful wife has finally become pregnant. In spite of his apparently being so lucky, Étienne is haunted by nightmares.

When Étienne runs into an old school friend, he does not recognise him immediately but soon they become again familiar. Patrick is unemployed and admires Étienne for his achievements. Étienne has hereby found somebody with whom he dares to share his secret: Étienne's career only took off because he stole a chemical formula from an unknown inventor 15 years ago.

Patrick persuades Étienne he could fix everything retroactively if he met the inventor and spoke to him. Unfortunately the man reacts in way neither of the two friends anticipated. Overwhelmed by wrath he is determined to destroy Étienne's life by suing him and eventually he poses even physically threatening. Trying to protect his friend Patrick accidentally kills the man. It is also Patrick who decides for both of them to conceal what just happened.

Étienne pays Patrick 30,000 Euros in order to get rid of him. But Patrick spends his new money on a prostitute and gets in trouble when he claims she had stolen from him. After Étienne has bailed him out he prepares to send Patrick far away. He creates a well-paid job for him in Singapore. On his way there Patrick gets arrested at the airport for smuggling drugs and his finger prints are taken. They match the fingerprints which were found at the crime scene. Patrick blackmails Étienne, demanding 3 million Euros. Étienne cannot get the sum together. Subsequently, he decides to turn himself in.

Cast

Benoît Magimel as Étienne Meunier
Julie Gayet as Clémence Meunier
François-Xavier Demaison as Patrick Chambon
Léa Seydoux as Fleur
Stephane De Groodt as Kazinski
André Wilms as François
Dominique Labourier as Micheline
Jo Deseure as Etienne
Jean-Marie Winling as Maurice

Reception

Iwan Pranowo of Movielogy.com evaluated Sans laisser de traces as a "nice surprise" but also belittled it as merely a French version of the film Match Point.^[8] Jordan Mintzer of Variety derided the film as "a paint-by-numbers tale of greed, betrayal and seduction" which was "marginally saved by first-rate acting and production values".^[9]

DVD release

A French version with English subtitles was released by Mongrel Media in 2010.^[10]^[11]

References

^ "Associate production company : Fidélité Films, Foreign production company : Scope Pictures". Retrieved 2013-01-07.
^ "Sans laisser de traces". Retrieved 2013-01-07.
^ "Immaculate". Retrieved 2013-01-07.
^ "Traceless".
^ "Alternate title: Indelible, Traceless, Indélébile, Immaculate". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2013-02-16. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
^ "This cleverly scripted tale of greed, betrayal and seduction is the directorial debut of veteran scriptwriter and master of suspense Gregoire Vigneron (Le petit Nicolas)". Retrieved 2013-01-07.
^ "He made his first feature film as a director in 2010 – Immaculate / Sans laisser de traces". Archived from the original on 2013-12-10. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
^ "This movie here is really a nice surprise. Although actually, if I'm to be very critical about it, I would call Traceless as unashamed rip-off/copycat of a Woody Allen's Match Point (2005) which features Scarlett Johansson and won the Academy Award 2006 for Best Original Screenplay!". 23 March 2010. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
^ "a paint-by-numbers tale of greed, betrayal and seduction that's only marginally saved by first-rate acting and production values". 23 March 2010. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
^ "Immaculate (Sans Laisser de Traces) - A film by Grégoire Vigneron". Archived from the original on 2014-03-30. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
^ "Language Note: In French with optional English subtitles". Retrieved 2013-01-07.