Frantic follows American Dr. Richard Walker (Harrison Ford) and his wife Sandra (Betty Buckley) who traveled to Paris, France for a medical conference. Once they were in their hotel room, they realized Sandra had picked up the wrong suitcase. While Richard was taking a shower, Sandra answered the phone and then left the room.
Sometime later, Richard was waiting for his wife to return to their room. He probably figured she had stepped out for a few minutes but when she failed to return, he immediately started to worry. After checking the hotel lobby and speaking with the manager, he then went outside and asked several people if they had seen his wife. A guy said he saw a woman fitting Sandra’s description being taken away in a car and Richard also found his wife’s bracelet in the street. Between hotel security, the police and the American Embassy, no one seemed to be taking his wife’s disappearance seriously. They kept trying to make it seem as if Sandra had left with a male friend (or possible lover), since she was spotted by a hotel employee leaving with a man.
Throughout all of this Richard was at a disadvantage because he didn’t speak or understand French. He went back to his hotel room and searched through that wrong suitcase and found something that would lead him to a nightclub, a murder and eventually to Michelle (Emmanuelle Seigner), the young woman who owned the suitcase.
Michelle is the reason Sandra was taken but not intentionally. Due to the suitcases being mixed up, Michelle had taken his wife’s suitcase by mistake and she left it for the smugglers to pick up. Unfortunately for Sandra, her bag had her name on it and they must have tracked her looking for their smuggled goods.
Not getting any real help from the police or the American Embassy, Dr. Walker continued his search while getting help from Michelle. And through a series of unfortunate events Richard’s investigation found him caught in the middle of espionage.
This was a very understated thriller with a lot suspense and intrigue throughout the story and surprisingly, a bit of well-placed humor is included as well. There was more action near the end but not a lot of it. A thought I kept having throughout the movie was that I hope he gets his wife back and that’s she unharmed. Something I like about this movie was that you could really tell that Richard loved his wife and despite his amateur investigation finding him clearly in over his head, he was willing to do everything he could to get Sandra back. Something else that I liked is Dr. Walker not becoming attracted to or falling for Michelle nor was she being seductive while they were looking for his wife. His main focus and priority was saving Sandra while Michelle was trying to get the money that was owed her from her earlier smuggling efforts.
Harrison Ford gave a powerful performance with his character going from worried, befuddled, frustrated and frantic to someone who was very determined. He’s believable as a regular guy and not some overly trained action hero who was trying to find and save his wife. I also thought Emmanuelle Seigner did a great job as the free-wheeling bad girl. Her life seems like it was filled with nonstop excitement and danger from her constant walk on the wild side.
Frantic was a good movie and it was perfectly titled but I can understand why it's not talked about as much by movie fans due to the controversy surrounding the director Roman Polanski. It's hard to overlook which is why I think this movie has faded from fans recollection or not garnered as many new fans due to negative association of the director.
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