Chrysalis (film)
| Chrysalis | |
|---|---|
Film poster
|
|
| Directed by | Julien Leclercq |
| Produced by | Franck Chorot |
| Written by | Julien Leclercq Nicolas Peufaillit Franck Philippon Aude Py |
| Starring |
Albert Dupontel Mélanie Thierry |
| Music by | Jean-Jacques Hertz François Roy |
| Cinematography | Thomas Hardmeier |
| Edited by | Thierry Hoss |
| Distributed by | Gaumont |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
91 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Budget | €8.3 million |
| Box office | $1.2 million |
Chrysalis is a French science fiction film directed and co-written by Julien Leclercq and starring Albert Dupontel. The film was commercially released in France on 31 October 2007.
In the near future Paris, lieutenant David Hoffman from the European Police is chasing down Bulgarian human trafficker Dimitri Nicolov, along with his police partner and wife, Sarah. During the ensuing shoot-out, Sarah is killed by Nicolov and David is injured. Some time later, David is brought back to active service and given a new partner, Marie, the niece of a high-ranking Intelligence officer. They investigate the body of an illegal immigrant, Tatiana, found with strange marks under her eye from what looks like an eye-lid retractor, and her brain cooked by electrical shocks.
In the meantime, a young woman named Manon, who's been involved in a car accident, is being nursed to health at the hi-tech clinic directed by her mother, Professor Brügen. Manon seems to have issues recovering her memories after the incident. She has also the same marks under her eye.
David and Marie manages to link the dead girl to Nicolov, and one of David's informants tell them where to find him, and that Tatiana had a sister named Elena. A stakeout leads to Nicolov's capture, but once at the precinct the criminal attempts to escape and David is forced to kill him to save Marie's life. However, unbeknown to David, the autopsy reveals that the man was not Nicolov at all, but his twin brother. Later at David's apartment, the real Nicolov shows up and kidnaps him. Nicolov brings David to Brügen, who's revealed to be his accomplice. The machine she's using to help Manon recover her memories is a secret army prototype stolen by Nicolov, a technique called "Chrysalis" that allows to digitize and extract a subject's memory, store it away, or erase it completely.
Nicolov forces Brügen to erase David's memory and then he abandons him on the street as a vengeance for the death of his brother. David's found three days later, with no recollection of any event from his past, including Sarah's death, which was haunting him. Marie is tasked by the chief of police Miller, and by her uncle, to babysit David and try to get his memory back by making him relive past traumas, a method that is known to counter the effects of the machine. This kind of traumatic memory is also what's preventing Manon from completing the process, to her mother's increasing chagrin.
Marie disobeys the orders and chooses to bring David back to speed on the Nicolov case. The two of them end put the pieces together and follow the leads to Chrysalis and the clinic. When she sees David, Professor Brügen is worried their operation will be exposed, and orders Nicolov to take care of him. However, in the ensuing confrontation, David ends up killing Nicolov for good.
...
Wikipedia