The Anarchists

When the opening credits roll shortly after the start of the film, they do so to the sound of “Lonely Teardrops” by Ken Boothe whilst mug-shots of Anarchists are displayed on screen. Given when and where this film is set, anyone who has seen “House of Tolerance” directed by Bertrand Bonello would very possibly be reminded of Bonello’s film with a similar use of music that is relatively up to date and far later than when both films are set.With Elie Wajeman’s “The Anarchists” starting in the way that it did, sounding good with Ken Boothe playing and looking good with the images on screen, I felt I was in for a great film. After all I had seen the two lead actors - Tahar Rahim and Adèle Exarchopoulos in some great films. They both gave good performances in “The Anarchists” as did the whole cast, and the story was a good one, but somehow this film just didn’t quite work as well as I might have expected.I have watched it twice now (the second viewing many weeks after the first) as I thought I might have missed something the first time around. But no, it still didn’t do it (for me) anyway.This is not a bad film, it’s good but it just isn’t a great film – so maybe I was just expecting too much – well yes, possibly, but sadly the rest of the film didn’t live up to those old photographs of anarchists set to the sound of Lonely Teardrops…On the DVD you get:“The Anarchists” (1 hour 37 minutes)Scene SelectionSet Up:5.1 Dolby digital; 2.0 StereoOptional English Subtitles

This is a period piece set in Paris of 1899. Political change is rampant throughout Europe and new ideas are being propagated as an alternative to the many broken societies and the vast gulf between the haves and have nots. The anarchists were and indeed are such a ‘group’ if that is indeed the right noun of assemblage.Tahir Rahman (‘A Prophet’ and ‘The Cut’) plays Jean Albertini; an educated policeman who gets chosen to go undercover and expose the dark underbelly of the anarchists in Paris. He takes to his new role like a duck to water. Amongst his new comrades are Judith Lorillard played by the sultry Adèle Exarchopoulos (‘Blue is the warmest colour’) and a very aggressive Guillaume Gouix playing Eugène Levèque an alpha male who wants to take the struggle to the next level – confrontation.Now this plays out in a linear format and as well as the politics, personal strife’s and some very well acted scenes this should be a rollicking good adventure. However, it just lacks oomph and moments of high drama seem to almost fizzle out before they get under way. This could be down to the direction from Elie Wajeman who brought us ‘Aliyah’ which was a fairly good, but unreported, film. It is not down to the acting and the script looked pretty much spot on. That said this is still a reasonable watch but more above average rather than the blast it could and possibly should have been given the talent on display here. I am giving a 7 out of ten that I am rounding up for the period detail and great performances.

Interesting plot and well made film. Good acting but some of the music in the film may have been a little misplaced.This film is worth watching but is a litle bit slow in places, where it could have done with a bit more intensity. However, some of the slower parts were necessary.

This is my type of film. The French make good films in my opinion. Better than Hollywood dross any day. The plot, dialogue, and cinematography were all excellent.

poses a moral question while deliberating a decision