Francois Cluzet stars as Yann Kermadec who is taking part in a solo round the World yacht race. He got the opportunity after his boss had an accident, leaving the way open for him to realise his dream of winning the Vendée Globe race. Then after a few days out he sustains damage to his boat and has to lay up for repairs off the coast of the Canary Islands.Though he has lost two days he soon makes up for lost time - then he discovers something that will not only upset his chances of winning but also has the potential to ruin everything. To say any more could be a plot spoiler.This is a really well made film and would almost make you want to go yachting as it makes it look so much fun - albeit dangerous. Cluzet is his sparkling self and brings a real sense of immediacy to the role. He has to battle the elements and keep in contact with the other competitors as well as his home team; all the time trying to make up for the time he has lost.If you like boating, or just enjoy a really good human story with some fine acting then this will be one you will want to see.

I have no idea whether this film is based on a true story or not. The almost complete absence of plot would suggest it was. The hero (Francois Cluzet) sets out on a single-handed round-the-world race, and his sailboat gets hit by flotsam, which breaks the steering mechanism. He pulls in to the Canaries for repairs, and finds a few days later that a 16 year-old boy has stowed away on board. He is hopping mad, shouting that his trip has to be single-handed or he's done for. The days go by, and he rescues a fellow (female) competitor who is kind to the boy and tells Francois to look after him as she leaves to get into a rescue launch. Cluzet evidently takes this to heart, because he rescues the boy after he escapes in the rescue dinghy, and then won't hand him over to the boat's injured owner (for whom he is standing in) off the Azores. Eventually, he is escorted by scores of vessels into the French harbour and sails deliberately straight past the victory buoys, thereby disqualifying himself. A most unsatisfactory ending that completely fails to explain how this film was a hit in French cinemas. I guess the round-the-world sailing race has a much bigger public in that country. But it doesn't explain their lousy taste in adventure movies. No big recommendation here.

It's amazing what a good director, a superb leading actor, and a fine cameraman can do with a subject that is arguably targeting a specialised audience. By now Francois Cluzet and Guillaume Canet are old hands at the game with three or four collaborations under their collective belt, including the outstanding ne le dis a personne (Tell No One) which Canet adapted and directed from the novel by Harlan Coben and in which Cluzet played the lead (with Canet himself taking a small role). This time around Cluzet gets the lion's share of screen time after deputising for the injured Canet in a round-the-world yacht race for solo sailors. Back in the fifties Billy Wilder, shooting The Spirit of St Louis, which was primarily about Charles Lindbergh's solo crossing of the Atlantic, solved the problem of too much screen time with just one actor (James Stewart) by introducing a fly into the confined - and sealed - cockpit and allowing Stewart to talk to it. Things move on in fifty years and Cluzet soon discovers a stowaway, anxious to get to France, once he leaves the Canaries. As usual the resident misanthrope at films de France has trashed another fine film but trust me, watch it anyway.

I probably should not have reviewed this title: I enjoyed it but I am a sailor and it's easy to understand that I am not objective: many things that mean so much to me (Cape Horn, the Roaring Forties, Icebergs in Southern Atlantic or just Sailing itself) could be completely meaningless to people who do not sail.There are two reasons why I'm writing this note: first at present (surprisingly enough) there are no other reviews for this movie; second, its success in France has been so great that I can't believe it could have been due only to hordes of sailors filling the theaters.It's a beautiful sea movie with a very simple plot, don't expect anything astounding or particularly original: it just shows the feelings that any of you, alone at sea, would have for your fellow men. The film has been made by people who clearly know very well the world of yacht racing and offers you the chance to get a glimpse of what it means today to sail around the world: did you know how fast modern sailboats could run? Enjoy.