Science fiction is not a genre in which French cinema dabbles to any great extent although it does have a fine tradition of horreur as in Les Diaboliques and Les Jeux sans visage which are distant relatives of Chrysalis as both deal with death in one form or another; a death that isn't really a death on the one hand and the idea of 'rebuilding' broken bodies on the other. Here we have parallel stories. Futuristic (2020) cop David Hoffman, sees both his wife and his female partner killed in front of him and sets out to nail the two brothers responsible. At the same time a highly successful female surgeon is driving the car is which her daughter is killed and is bent on reviving her in her state-of-the- art clinic. Oh, I almost forgot, there's a machine involved and it's capable of erasing people's memories of if this were a James Bond movie SMERSH or SCEPTRE or both would be after it but we have to be content with smaller fry. There are two exceptional fist-fights (for which Dupontel insisted on doing his own fighting) of the kind that after ninety seconds tops one or both of the fighters would be dead and/or comatose but instead, natch, they keep at it for four or five minutes. Watchable but Dupontel has done far better stuff in this line, like The prey.

CHRYSALIS is that rarest of things: a French SF film. It's about a cop in the near future who hunts for the man who killed his partner cum lover only to stumble across a medical conspiracy. It's a glossy but ultimately unrewarding thriller, which feels longer than its short 90 minute running time for the simple reason that the characters are opaque and the plot predictable (I guessed the end twist around the halfway mark). Unsurprisingly, the richest and most bourgeois white character is the villain. The shiny aesthetic, minimal dialogue, stock characters and brutal fights are effective in their own genre fashion but the absence of heart, humour and humanity leaves it feeling empty. The cast is a fabulous collection of handsome skinhead coppers, sleekly pale women and brutish ape-like Eastern European criminals but they all have too little to do. Watching the documentary features makes the failure understandable: the director was so intent on creating complex, highly technical shots that he simply paid no attention to the writing.

I have seen at a week distance two films describing Paris in the 2020s - 'La Jetee' by Chris Marker and 'Chrysalis'. They were made at more than four decades distance in time, and yet they have many similar lines bringing up troubling visions of the future of the vary familiar and warm city that is Paris.Same as 'La Jetee', 'Chrysalis' is a very stylish film, with striking visuals. All is filmed in blue metallic light, which creates a artificial, cold, robotic atmosphere for a sci-fi and cop story which is a combination of some older (tough cop with young female partner as in 'Dernier domicile connu') and newer themes (mind control, human traffic). The principal problem is that the story is confusing, and even when the two parallel threads converged not all the details come clear.Some good acting (especially Albert Dupontel in the lead role) and well filmed fights choreography cannot save the film, which remains a too dry exercise, with too much style and too little substance, and failing to create emotion.

This movie rocks. It is best to watch it in French with subtitles as the voice artists for the English language version ham it up a bit. This is an excellently directed, hard hitting and atmospheric sci-fi cop movie. Set I'm guessing about twenty years in the future. Teenage girls are being murdered and disappearing. The movie opens on back to back, shock you into the movie scenes, that set up the parallel stories that will be played out. The cast is great. Albert Dupontel as David Hoffman is a total bad ass, grim and tough as hell. There seems to be an ocean of emotion behind his stoic tough facade. Marthe Keller is also a stand out. Just an incredible actress to watch. None of the relationships in this movie are predicable, which makes it very intriguing and though all these characters are familiar to this genre, all of them come off as totally believable people. This is something that lacks in most American versions of the genre.The fight scenes rock. Simple staging no wire work. It's just tough sons of bitches beating the crap out of each other in some brutal future martial art. There are twists and great scenes throughout. And though I've watched it twice and am still not sure of exactly all that happened, I don't care. I'm going to buy the DVD. Julien Leclercq is a Director and Writer to watch. I hope to see more from him. And a word of advice to the Director. Don't move to Hollywood. They would just ruin you. Look what happened to John Woo.Great Movie.Peace.