Olivier Olivier

You might think Agnieszka Holland (Europa Europa) has double titles on the brain, but at least on this project, which dates back to 1984, there’s an eerie logic to the impulse. The original inspiration comes from a French news story, though The Return of Martin Guerre may have exerted some influence as well: a nine-year-old boy named Olivier (Emmanuel Morozof) mysteriously disappears, and after exhaustively searching for the boy, his father (Francois Cluzet) leaves his mother (Brigitte Rouan) and sister for a job in Africa. Six years later, the police inspector (Jean-Francois Stevenin) originally assigned to the case comes across a teenage boy (Gregoire Colin) who may be Olivier, and introduces him to the family, who greet him with mixed reactions: the parents want to believe he’s their son, but the sister is unconvinced. Holland is always an interesting director, and this arresting and disturbing tale commands some attention, but the impact of the story is blunted by irrelevant asides concerning telekinesis and more loose ends than you can shake a stick at (1991). (JR)

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