Anything for Her (2008) User Reviews (28)

Solid THRILLER with good ACTING

[raphmetz · 8/10 · 26 April 2009]

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie.

Of course the whole idea of the plot is not very believable, an ordinary man trying to get his ordinary wife to escape from prison. That is the downpoint of the film.

However, through the great performances by both actors Vincent Lindon and Diane Kruger, and the wonderful chemistry between them, you actually care for them, and understand the psychological motivation of the husband. Add to that the perfectly paced development of the story, and you end up with a solid, entertaining thriller with real emotions.

In my opinion, you forget the unrealistic aspect of a film when the performance(s) of the actor(s) are deep and the emotions strong. So for me, even though this film provides nothing new, it is a brilliantly executed thriller.

Another Great French Thriller

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 6 April 2011]

The family man and school teacher Julien Auclert (Vincent Lindon) has his life turned upside down when his beloved wife Lisa (Diane Kruger) is arrested, accused for murdering her boss, and sent to the prison. Along three years, Julien raises their son Oscar (Lancelot Roch) alone and appeals to the court; however, the evidences against Lisa are solid – the motive, since she had and argument with her boss; her fingerprints in the murder weapon, a fire extinguisher; blood stain in her coat; and a witness that saw her leaving the parking lot - and her lawyer exhausts all the possible resources in justice. Julien believes in the innocence of his wife and interviews Henri Pasquet (Olivier Marchal), a former escapee from prison, to learn how to plan a prison break. Then he plots a scheme to release Lisaa and travel abroad with Oscar and her. However, he needs documents for the family; an escape plan; and lots of money. When Julien is informed that Lisa will be transferred to another prison within the next three days, he needs to raise a large amount and anticipate his strategy before the transference.

"Pour Elle" is another great French thriller, with an engaging and dramatic story. Vincent Lindon has an awesome performance in the role of a man that risks his stable life to rescue his wife, who was wrongly accused of murder, from prison.

A couple of days ago (02 April 2011), my wife and I saw the American popcorn movie "The Next Three Days" and in that occasion I wrote in IMDb "a good thriller that could have been excellent with minor modifications in the screenplay". I have glanced the review of another IMDb User informing that the American movie is a remake of "Pour Elle" and I have just watched it. It is amazing the lack of creation of this former successful American industry that insists in the remake of great films.

"Pour Elle" is realistic, without the exaggeration of "The Next Three Days" and for me better and better. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Tudo por Ela" ("Everything for Her")

The French Original

[gradyharp · 8/10 · 16 March 2011]

TOUT POUR ELLE (Anything for Her) was the original story and film from which THE NEXT THREE DAYS was adapted. In many ways this film is at least as strong as the Paul Haggis version with Russell Crowe. Here the credits are due to the imagination of writers Fred Cavayé and Guillaume Lemans and directed by Fred Cavayé. It is a very fine character driven thriller that while it may appear incredible to most, it is nonetheless an involving story of a man's love and commitment to his wife.

Julien (an impressive Vincent Lindon) is a schoolteacher who has a happy home life with his beautiful wife Lisa (Diane Kruger) and son Oscar (Lancelot Roch). During a quiet evening at home they are disturbed by policemen who arrest Lisa for a murder she claims she did not commit. Jump three years and Julien has been working with lawyers, spending their paltry savings, on getting appeals to get Lisa released from jail. He gets moral support from his parents (Liliane Rovère and Olivier Perrier) but sees his family falling apart. After three years have passed and when all legal portals fail, Lisa attempts suicide and Julien decides the only way to get Lisa out of prison is to aid in her escape. He visits writer Henri Pasquet (Olivier Marchal) who has escaped from prison several times and outlines the dangers AND the only secure methods for affecting a prison escape. John slowly and methodically prepares for the escape, gaining money by contacting drug lord Mouss (Alaa Safi), commits some crimes of his own as he masterminds his plan to successfully extract Lisa from prison. There are many twists and turns to the story, well written subplots and unexpected coincidences, all populated with a very strong cast of capable actors. It is a tense little French film that may not have the better known cast of its later American successor, but it works on a very different level and is a solid psychological thriller.

Grady Harp

No, it's a movie, not a scent

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 3 February 2011]

With his wife(17 years younger, hotter and less brooding) stuck in jail facing 20 years for a murder she clearly did not commit(and all the evidence against her is circumstantial... do French police suck this hard? In general, they are painted in a rather negative light in this, quite unnecessarily), Julien(the swimming teacher from Welcome) seeks to free her so that they can be reunited and spend the rest of their lives together, and with their son(who, other than badly needing to wear a cowbell, doesn't contribute much to this other than being "cute" and a single running theme overly easily solved... and it's not the only thing this sets up that doesn't lead to anything). High hopes aside, he's only a schoolteacher... could he really pull it off? The gradual pace leaves this feeling longer than the 96 minute running time, though it is quite tense and fairly gripping. You care about these people, and you definitely *feel* the impact of every blow dealt. The exciting third act has you so consistently on the edge of your seat, you're liable to fall off. Throughout, this is filmed and edited well. All of the performances are excellent... including the six-year-old(no, really). Part of the way, this is realistic, and it certainly does surprise you. The writing is mostly solid. There is a little brutal, bloody violence in this. I recommend it to fans of crime-thrillers. 7/10

Solid and tense but not especially enjoyable thriller

[to_kill_better · 6/10 · 21 June 2009]

Pour Elle is the most recent high-profile French thriller to receive a limited cinematic release on British shores. With superior acting from Vincent Lindon and Diane Kruger as strong, sympathetic leading characters and a good, conundrum-driven plot line, there is every reason to expect a gripping experience along the lines of "Tell No One" - a comparison emphasised by the advertisers.

Unfortunately, although in acting a dialogue there is a lot to recommend here, the film does not form as exciting a package as Tell No One.

But first the good: as with many French movies, the representations of family life and the everyday interactions between spouses or parents with children are represented with a care and accuracy that is simply not found in most English language films. France seems to have a surfeit of fantastic child actors and directors who know how to use them. Similarly, the quality of the acting amongst the cast as a whole is superb, hitting the right note of realism without slipping into the cartoonishly grim and dour found in many British films.

The problems with the movie are largely related to the fact that the story is somewhat simplistic for a thriller, with no real twists or anything to engage the intellect, as well as the fact that the constant emphasis of the hardship and injustice faced by the family as a result of the wife's wrongful imprisonment simply makes the movie difficult to actually enjoy watching.

I found myself becoming increasingly depressed at the wife's prospect of spending the next 20 years trying to ward off suicide in a prison cell knowing that she was innocent. A fact that was driven home often enough that the ending did provide enough catharsis to warrant the misery of the first hour.

Although the point is made that this is the story of an ordinary man trying to perform an act that, as the multiple-escapist at the beginning of the film assures us, can only be done by a "born criminal", the film seems to present the escape as surprisingly easy to plan. There is very little attempt to guide us through the process - with much of the interesting, intricate work presented in montage. Rather than focusing on the nuts and bolts of the escape plan, as we would expect from a thriller, these are passed through in a cursory manner as the tension is built around the increasing strain placed on the characters. Although there is nothing wrong with this approach, it doesn't entirely sit at ease with the rushed escape that ends the film (although the ending does involve the cleverest moment in the story, involving an internet car-share website).

Although far from a bad film, Pour Elle is an uneasy mix of personal drama and thriller which achieves much more as the former than the latter. As someone expecting a movie more like "Tell No One", I can't say I enjoyed the film as much I could have.

Unusual but gripping thriller

[neil-476 · 7/10 · 25 June 2009]

Knowing virtually nothing about this film before I went in (I was the only one in the cinema), I was surprised to find that it is a French film, subtitled in English (the cinema billed it as Anything For Her and, from what I could gather using my not-very-good French, the subtitles were about as accurately translated as the title)).

In throwaway flashbacks, we learn how Lisa (Diane Kruger from Troy and the National Treasure movies) ends up in prison for a murder which she didn't commit. When, after three years, her legal remedies are all exhausted, she attempts suicide. At this point her schoolteacher husband Julien (Vincent Lindon) decides that his only choice is to break her out of prison and escape to another country in assumed identities with her and their five year old son. In order to do so he must first dip his toe into the underworld. The bulk of the film tells of how he makes and executes his plans.

This was an interesting and gripping film, telling an unusual story from an unusual viewpoint. There wasn't a vast amount of action (although the small amount of action was well executed), but that didn't matter: the story itself was a powerful engine driving the film along.

Lindon's performance seemed initially rather one-note: on consideration, I think I can see that it was actually rather Gallic, suggesting hidden depths which showed through infrequently. Diane Kruger plays nicely against type, as a dowdy jailbird throughout most of the film.

In short, a small film, but very good of its type.

Gripping from beginning to end!

[rowiko · 10/10 · 29 January 2011]

So, what would YOU do if your spouse is convicted on a murder charge and sentenced to 20 years in jail? The film explores to what lengths someone might go, and it takes the viewer on a journey that is anything but expected. And it does it in convincing style and fashion and has you glued to your seat from beginning to end.

OK, Julien enters a world that makes him do things that we should by rights not find acceptable. And yet, one can do nothing but root for him to succeed, regardless of his methods.

I absolutely loved the power and speed of this film. It's action-packed, but also has a lot of depth.

A superb thriller throughout!

tense but no suspense

[jande9 · 14 August 2009]

Please do not read this if you haven't seen the movie.

I was extremely disappointed in this movie. It is well made, has great actors, and a great beginning, but it goes absolutely nowhere. It completely failed in achieving its potential. It does not tell the real story. It feels like just half a movie.

The movie concentrates on his effort to free his wife, but that is not the real story. The real story revolves around whether she did it or not, and whether, once they are free, she is either absolved or exposed. That is interesting. The mechanics of engineering an escape are boring, and his descent into robbery and murder to free his wife are not interesting because we do not follow his journey into anguish and despair. The emotional journey is not there. The film makers have made it hard on themselves by having the couple have a young son. His presence forces the father to keep his act together and act normal. Without him the actor could have given his anguish much more exposure.

I would like to have seen the first half of this movie showing the murder, her capture, their escape to a foreign country, always keeping her guilt ambiguous, and the second half the cop, who is a strong charismatic character, hunt them down and finally capture them. He could become convinced of her innocence and they would only receive a light sentence for running away, but you would always suspect she was really guilty and that he was duped. Or perhaps he is fixated on her guilt and hunts them down and captures them, but in the ensuing court case, she is proved innocent. However, years later he discovers he was right after all. Or perhaps he never finds them, but years later he runs into their grown son, and finally discovers the truth about what she did.

This movie is extremely frustrating, because so much potential was lost.

Superbly made thriller - classic cinema

[nhenryv · 10/10 · 12 June 2009]

This is a terrific film ,and does exactly what cinema should do - it makes you think, and is very entertaining. You can't just slump in front of a film like this, shovelling popcorn down your front. You have to join in. What would YOU do if someone you loved so passionately was wronged by the law? This takes it to the full extent; taking the law into your own hands - its spaghetti era Eastwood - type storytelling, told with passion, humour and guile. Cinematically, its great - how come the French so seldom make bad looking films? The acting is fantastic, with both leads acquitting themselves with great style. Like most good thriller films, it goes close to stretching credibility at times, but never veers into the ridiculous or implausible. Also weaved into the film is a vein of good fortune which drives the story along and seems in the end to be their just dessert. One small criticism; it seemed set up for a sequel - surely film makers of such taste would not lead down that road? No sequel thanks -it stands as a great piece of work as it is.Leave well alone.

Intense and intelligent thriller about a happy couple whose life radically changes when the wife is accused for killing

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 15 August 2013]

A stylish , complex movie driven by character , dealing with a high school teacher with no legal means left to him , as he devises a daring plan to rescue his wrongfully imprisoned wife from jail . Based on the original idea by Guillaume Lemans , this is a perfect thriller being starred by an all-star-cast as the French Vincent Lindon and German Diane Kruger . Being remade in American version (2010) by Paul Haggis with Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks . A teacher named Julien (Vincent Lindon , in American version played by Russell Crowe), is happily married to his sweetheart wife , Lisa (Diane Kruger , she spent several months developing the character which had a significantly smaller role in the original draft). When her despised chief is murdered, she is the main suspect . Then , a clear evidence convicts Lara Brennan of killing . Lisa is sentenced to 20 years of jail for murder charges. While she's in prison , her husband cares for their young son and plots a twisted plan , as he decides to break her out. Julien consults a successful escape artist turned author, and he starts planning and decides to carry out his scheme . He'll need to disrupt jail routine, obtain IDs and passports, know how to escape a dragnet, find a new place to live , and squirrel away cash ; as he spends the next few years trying to get her released . The essential question that lies in the film is the following : How far would you go for the one you love ?

This exciting film contains action , violence , thrills , suspense and plot twists . Excellent thriller in which nothing is the way it seems , the atmosphere is already tense and the twists and turns are the best part of this movie . In other ways, it feels like a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock, full of attractive characters and edge-of-your-seat intrigue . The film was noteworthy for casting some of the finest actors in France including Vincent Lindon as a husband whose life is turned upside down when his wife is accused of a murder , along with Olivier Marchal , an actor/director who has directed sensational Fench thrillers , just like "36th Precinct" , ¨Mr73¨ as good as this ¨Anything for her¨ . And , of course , a gorgeous as well as good actress Diane Kruger as the woman wrongfully condemned ; in fact ,Fred Cavayé chose Diane Kruger for her radiant beauty, as it would make her character's ordeal all the more powerful .All the prison scenes and the studio interiors were shot in chronological order as Fred Cavayé felt it would be important for the actors and the evolution of their characters. Good production design , the prison seen in the film is actually a combination of three filming locations: the exteriors are that of the Meaux prison, some 40 kilometers east of Paris, the entrance corridors are part of the Bibliothèque Nationale De France in Paris and the other interiors . The picture achieved big success and was Nominated César Best First Film (2009) and considered to be the best thriller of the year in which you'll leave the cinema shaken and moved . Excellent soundtrack by Klaus Badlet , it was recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios that elevate the emotion and the intensity of the scenes to new heights .

Fred Cavallé did a formidable job with Pour elle" ,France (original title or "Anything for Her" , International title and filming lasted eleven weeks. Fred was immediately impressed with writer Guillaume Lemans's passion for the story, and his vision, stating that he understood that the novel was a love story first , and a thriller second . The idea for the film came from Guillaume Lemans , once Fred Cavayé got involved, the two men started out by working on the film separately before sharing their ideas , Cavayé then wrote the first draft of the screenplay himself, and so on. Cavallé is a notorious writer/director and he formerly was a fashion and advertising photographer . He has only directed three films "The Players" with Oscar winner Jean Dujardin and another phenomenal thriller titled ¨Point blank ¨ with Gilles Lellouche , Gérard Lanvin and Elena Anaya . Eclectic and moving, Cavallé is a successful filmmaker .

Powerful and unnerving

[howard.schumann · 9/10 · 11 August 2009]

Julien (Vincent Lindon) is an unprepossessing French teacher, happily married to Lisa (Diane Kruger), a wife he deeply loves. Their idyllic suburban life is rudely interrupted, however, when the police shockingly crash their home and arrest Lisa on suspicion of the brutal murder of her boss. With Lisa's fingerprints on the weapon, and the victim's blood on her jacket, she is found guilty and sentenced to twenty years in prison. If you like your suspense powerful and unnerving, do not hesitate to seek out Anything For Her (Pour Elle), the debut effort of French director Fred Cavayé, an enormously entertaining thriller that delivers a high level of satisfaction.

Imprisoned for a crime she probably did not commit (the director offers two possible scenarios but it is clear which one is the more likely), Lisa, still proclaiming her innocence, faces long, dark days ahead without her husband and their young son Oscar (Lancelot Roch). Overwhelmed with sadness, Julien becomes single-minded in his drive to reunite the family. After three years, when his attorney tells him that Lisa stands no chance before the Appeals Court and Lisa becomes suicidal, refusing to take her insulin shots, Julien knows that he must take matters into his own hands and will stop at nothing to accomplish his goal.

Locating an ex-con who has written books about his attempts to break out of jail, Julien convinces him to tutor him on the do's and don'ts of prison escape, telling the ex-con that he wants to teach the author's experience to his students. His ultimate plan, though, is not revealed either to Lisa, Julien's parents (Liliane Rovere and Olivier Perrier), or to the audience, which serves to greatly enhance the suspense. To save the woman he loves from certain death in prison, however, Julien must transform himself from laid-back school teacher to action hero, pushing himself far beyond the limits of what is reasonable. While attempting to obtain false papers and new identities, he comes into contact with some very unpleasant local criminal types and finds himself no longer reluctant to use violence to accomplish his ends.

Supported by an excellent script by the director, outstanding cinematography by Alain Duplaintier, and a moody score by Klaus Badelt, Anything For Her is entertaining, riveting, and ultimately a very moving love story. None of it would be very convincing, however, if not for the outstanding performances of Lindon and Kruger, especially Lindon whose sudden personality change requires great skill to pull off. Lindon's eyes convey powerful emotion that is not desperation but a strong and unyielding determination that serves as a catalyst for the events that build to the film's heart pounding climax. Although Anything For Her has been criticized for being "implausible", when an individual's every act is consumed with passion and overwhelming intention, then the implausible will most certainly become the expected.

Crashing; bashing; maddening French thriller which shoots all over the place, although with some aim, and just about holds weight with the development of its lead character.

[johnnyboyz · 7/10 · 17 December 2009]

Anything for Her is a French film caught between the two things we've come to expect from French film-makers and their cinematic form from recent years. The film is one part harrowing tale of supposed injustice, complete with character study in the form of a desperate male on a mission which blurs the lines between right and wrong; while it's additionally one part relentless thriller, a film that thrives on its seemingly endless passage of scenes that put the lead through a harrowing grinder of dedication to a cause, but will not be ashamed to include the odd action set piece or fight scene. The film calls to mind recent French films Irréversible and The Beat That my Heart Skipped in its attention to the study of the male putting themselves through Hell for sake of family members-come-loved ones; but Anything for Her carries a fast, loose aesthetic which additionally calls to mind something like Distrcit 13, or any other recently produced Luc Besson feature, thus placing it tantalisingly on the line between these two 'types'.

In fact the film provides that somewhat amusing; B-movie inspired; typically self-aware sensibility going into it. The cover for the film is a gruff looking and gun-wielding individual named Julien (Lindon) standing along side his wife Lisa (Kruger), complete with the tag-line (cue cheesy American voice-over trailer voice) "How far would you go for the one you loved?" slapped to the side of it all. The film does not hang around with an extended point of attack, and it isn't long before the premise of trying to get one's wife out of prison by whichever way possible is kick-started into action. Overall, I think the film wants us to enjoy Julien's striving to rescue his beloved wife from the system which has imprisoned her after society put her in; enjoy it more-so than feel absolutely terrible and really humbled alá the aforementioned examples as this man is put through some pretty harsh paces. If this sensation does wash over us at whatever point during the film, it might be because the couple have a young son whom the film, through the editing, often breaks off to encompass – just to make sure we're definitely on this guy's side.

Criticisms aside, I bought into it by the end. There can be no doubt that most will get their kicks out of the film by way of the rock 'em-sock'em approach it has, but the film was more of a character piece than I expected it to be, with Julien being transformed from a seemingly upstanding family man whom teaches at his local school. Indeed, the recognition Julien is deservedly given towards the end in regards to his shift is duly delivered when, in an ironic manner, certain individuals stare at some of his plans from earlier and exclaim that he was 'just an average guy' before being forced to come to terms with what has transpired.

The film sees police barge into the family's home and arrest wife Lisa, rather horrifically whilst she's discovering blood on her clothes in the bathroom. The police's grounds for arrest is based on a murder Lisa supposedly committed, that she argued with her boss; waited for them to travel to a car park; bludgeoned them to death with a fire extinguisher (what is is with the French and fire extinguishers as murder weapons in films?) before casually driving off home. Later on, we get a 'true' depiction of what happened when Lisa flashes back to the events in which it turns out someone else did what was pinned on her. Regardless, we're told she's innocent rather than going through the motions of finding out that she actually is – the film is not of the detective variety, but of the jailbreak variety.

Julien begins his transformation when it appears Lisa's mental condition is worsening in prison, and thus begins to reject her insulin dosages in an attempt to take one's life. With a child a few years older than what he was when Lisa was taken and desperation settling in when it emerges he may loose Lisa a second time, Julien springs into action. As a boxer boxing above his weight; as an individual completely out of his depth and as a fish nowhere near any water, he is an initial failure at his attempts to do what's right. By seeing him ambushed and beaten by two people he attempts to obtain fake passports from, the crashing reality that the road is long, and hard, hits home. But he climbs his way back up, by way of ambushing drug dealers and shoving his way into people's houses at gunpoint; this before we feel a transition of sorts is in progress. This is a transition the film, remember, wants you to recall is driven by pure love for another human being as well as the supposed false imprisonment of said human being; so it's all perfectly fine and all right to root for this guy and his actions, correct? That is if you buy into what the film offers in this sense.

So the film is an amusing trawl through France's underworld, as con artists; escape artists; counterfeiters and gangsters all make separate appearances. To the film's credit, director Fred Cavayé knows how to shift from horror and terror; to thrills and spills; to sheer suspense in equal measure. His film delivers on a visceral level of such a premise being executed in the manner it is with a series of scenes that exist to evoke such extreme reactions of pity, sorrow and willing. All this while its lead, practically the only real 'character' in the entire film, goes through a transition which offers a backbone to all the mayhem. It's not one of the best French efforts from recent times, but as far as this current spate of usually Luc Besson infused; kinetic; pleasure-aim; 'bang-for-your-buck' films go, Anything for Her is surprisingly above average.

Not convincing enough

[shahriman_ams · 4/10 · 25 November 2010]

What do you expect out of an escape plot? That it should be convincing. This is not achieved by getting a guy to say that no system is full-proof. Contrast this film with something like 'The shawshank redemption'. With minimal physical action, the latter convinces us that it is actually possible to escape from shawshank. Nowhere in the film I felt like the hero has really outperformed the authority.

The plot seemed to be confused at best. This is an escape plot shot like a rescue film. It wastes too much time trying to answer "why" and in the end fails there too. The narrative pace never fully takes off and just when I thought its pacing up, the film ended abruptly. What I want to see in a rescue film is "how", where the film falls flat on its face.

Very little effort has been made to explain why would the guy want to break her out of prison, what convinces him that she is innocent? I know that she's his wife, but she's not our wife - and in the end what matters is why WE want to see her out of prison. Do we sympathize with the victim? I couldn't. She is probably going nuts in her cell, but we never get to see what she is actually going through inside the prison. Being gorgeous is not enough to relate with the audience.

I gave it four points for the craftsmanship behind the film - good cinematography and great editing. I hear Hollywood is getting it's own version of the film. I believe that film will benefit from cranking up the action slightly and tension a lot.

Who could believe in this ?

[searchanddestroy-1 · 8 December 2008]

I do not regret anything. I wanted to see this movie. Vincent Lindon for the first time of his carrier in a thriller, handling a gun and doing some stunts. This actor is really convincing, the movie fast paced, with no useless lengths. It's impossible to fall asleep during the viewing.

But the little problem with this film is:

Who the hell could believe a quarter of a second in this story of a school teacher, married to a beautiful wife, father of a little boy, who prepares the escape - from jail - of his wife accused of a crime she - of course !! - did not commit; the story of this ordinary man who - SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS - finally succeeds in his desperate purpose?

Who would be dumb enough to believe in this nonsense?

Who?

That is the question.

Classy french thriller

[Mick-Jordan · 7/10 · 20 July 2009]

Julien and Lisa are a happy loving couple living quiet, ordinary lives in their quiet, ordinary apartment with their baby son Oscar. Then one evening the doorbell rings, Julien opens the door and their lives are thrown into chaos. Police swarm into the apartment, pounce on Lisa and arrest her for the murder of her boss. Three years later Lisa has lost her last appeal against her 20 year jail term and is finally giving up hope – and giving up on life. She stops taking insulin trying to slowly commit suicide. Julien is a desperate man. He tracks down a notorious criminal who has written a best-selling book on his several successful escapes from prison. And so his plan begins. 'Anything For her' is a typical solid French thriller. There are no sudden twists or turns in a plot that relies on the natural tension of the situation to keep it going. The meticulous planning of the jail-break is compelling as you watch Julien turn his apartment into effectively an operations room. The walls are lined with maps and photographs, with graphs and plane schedules, and with heavily underlined questions such as "Escape Route?" He tells Lisa nothing about what he's doing and begs her to just hang on. He intends to sell her mother's house to raise the money they'll need to start a new life but then Lisa is told she is to be transferred to another prison and so Julien must speed up his plans and raise the money somewhere else. The tension and the pressure of it on Julien is almost unbearable and never lets up. The director is determined that there be no distraction from this, his main focus of the film and quickly shows, practically at the start, what actually happened to Lisa's boss so that that whole aspect of the story is quickly dismissed and forgotten about. It's not an all-out masterpiece by any means but it is a very entertaining, at times gripping film that does exactly what it says on the tin. Vincent Lindon is practically a veteran of these things and forces you to feel real empathy for Julien while Diane Kruger does well with what is really a much smaller part, fully conveying the nightmare of prison life and the physical decline it brings.

Competent and surprising french thriller

[wellthatswhatithinkanyway · 7/10 · 6 February 2010]

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Julien (Vincent Lindon) is a french bloke who's about to settle down to have a nice meal with his wife Lisa (Diane Kruger) and son, when the police raid his apartment and arrest Lisa on suspicion of murdering her boss. She's innocent, but too much plausible evidence is stacked against her and she looks set to spend a long time in jail for a crime she didn't commit. With everything going wrong, Julien mounts a plan to spring her from the nick and is driven to desperate lengths to see his plan through.

This small, independent film first took me by surprise during the opening credits which had french writing all over them. I had been looking forward to seeing Mesrine which is one of the more well known french films to have come out lately, but this looked like a normal American sort of lesser known film, but then I see it's all in french?!? Anyway, that shouldn't be a major problem and it isn't- and this is a decent thriller with quite a high concept idea behind the storyline which is driven with some solid drama and thrilling gusto. It's a bit too unremarkable to have much of an effect beyond that, but it's nice to know our continental neighbours can carry off their own legs. ***

Too Much 'Her', Not Enough Story

[robert-temple-1 · 7/10 · 12 July 2010]

This is a badly conceived thriller. We have a situation where a man's wife is suddenly arrested and sent to prison for murder. There are enough subtle clues in the film for us to be certain of her innocence. Indeed, the murder was really committed by another woman whom we actually glimpse. Creepily, this same woman sits beside the wife in the park and they chat. But this film lets us down. Surely everyone who writes thrillers knows that people want to know whodunit. In this film, the question of what really happened is ignored, and the entire story is based upon the husband (Vincent Lindon)'s efforts to bust his wife out of jail. Really, that is not the way thrillers are supposed to work. Fred Cavayé wrote and directed this film and we should take him over our knee and give him a good spanking. It may be very watchable, but he shattered the canon of the thriller by allowing a mystery to go unsolved. You can't do that and get away with it!

Another Good French Thriller - Where are you Hollywood?

[badajoz-1 · 8/10 · 15 July 2009]

A very good French thriller - pacy, believable, you care for the main characters, and the ultimate element in a good thriller 'They can't possibly pull it off - can they?' The story is of a wife wrongly imprisoned for murder, who can't hack prison, so that her ordinary husband has to devise a way of freeing her and getting away with it! At 96 minutes it works, except for a bit of slackness in the middle, with excellent acting, good cutting, some controlled violence,and sex that is integral to the plot and motivation. Simple driving theme with a powerful elliptical turn of good and bad, when you expect a doleful French cinematic ending or a hail of bullets at any moment in the conclusion gives some very good entertainment - something Hollywood seems to have lost amidst CGI-fests. One word of caution to Paul Haggis, who is slated to direct a US version, no star face in the lead male role or the whole delicate structure will be fatally undermined.

Break out performance

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 7 August 2010]

I will write quite a bit about the movie, so I hope you have either seen it, or you don't care to know a few things about the plot. Because this isn't about if Diane Kruger, who gets send to jail quite early in the movie, is innocent or not (we get a flashback after the judge has penalized her). It's about what a husband will go through, for the love of his life.

While the son isn't the best actor there is. Too absent most of the time and therefor almost without any emotional impact during a scene at almost the end of the movie. But the lead actor is really good. Diane Kruger has little to say, but her french is really good and she is convincing in her role.

Of course it would have been great to see more of the main character, but since most of the time what he does is an inner thing, this might work better as a book. Still there is a second woman who almost comes into his life (well she kinda tries, though it might seem half-hearted for most of the viewers) and while his relationship with his relatives is quite good, you could ask, why Diane's character did not get a similar treatment. Of course if she had gotten somebody else too, she wouldn't seem so isolated, plus it would take quite some time to establish new characters.

A good little thriller with quite some personal touches, very well played and nicely shot then.

Great prison break thriller...!!

[kamalbeeee · 8/10 · 14 January 2021]

This remake or original movie of "next 3 days" hollywood flick.. I would suggest to see both of the movies.. Stunning screenplay and story And all are acted soo well.. Each and every moment would be thriller and seat edge situation.. Must watchable..!!

When a man loves a woman...

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 14 December 2011]

Julien and Lisa Auclert, and their little son Oscar, are a middle class family living in a suburb of Paris. He is a teacher and she works in an office. One day Lisa has a scuffle with her superior at the office. That supervisor is found dead in the basement parking of the building. Her car was parked next to Lisa's. One night, Lisa, going home, found what appeared to be a fire extinguisher in front of her own car, she takes it on her hands to get it out of the way. As it happens, it was the murder weapon and she becomes the prime suspect. Eventually, she is found guilty and sent to prison.

Julien's world falls apart. To complicate things, Lisa is a diabetic who must take her insulin every day. He finds himself in a predicament he never thought possible. In spite of the fact that Lisa is innocent, there is circumstantial evidence that condemns her. All efforts to get her out fail. What can Julian do? Little it seems. Going to see a man that has written a book about his own ordeal with the law, Julian learns the basics of what to do, and what to avoid if he wants to get Lisa out.

First of all is the financial aspect of what he wants Lisa to escape the prison where she is serving her sentence. Then there is a problem of where to go, far away from France to a place that might offer the security of not being hunted by Interpol. Julien must get new identities for the three of them. He begins selling his possessions. Every penny counts to get what he wants. He makes a mistake in going to the wrong guy to ask for false papers. The man turns out to be a thief. He gets lucky from an unknown source and gets the new passports.

The problem is how to get Lisa out from the prison. Julien begins to study carefully the planned rescue of Lisa. Using his own apartment to prepare his plan, he begins exploring every possibility. Using one wall of the apartment, he keeps scheming. For the amount of money he must have to get out of the country, Julien figures he will hit on the man that duped him out of getting the first set of identification papers. It does not come without problems as he is wounded but not too bad, or life threatening. The main problem is how to get Lisa out of prison, but Julien has it all planned to the last detail.

"Pour elle" is an intense film with thriller overtones, directed with style by Fred Cavaye, making his full length film debut. The director shares writing credit with Gillaume Lemans. Like all thrillers, there are aspects of the story that just do not make sense, but viewers that appreciate the genre will probably not complain about those holes in the plot, that otherwise is played to its maximum effect. The prison escape, especially is something that might fall in that category, but one makes concessions because basically one is rooting for Julien all along as he embraces the cause of Lisa from the start, fighting against all odds to get her out.

The film belongs to Vincent Lindon, who gets better and better with each new project where he is asked to participate. His Julien is a man determined to take justice in his own hands to reunite his family at all costs. Diane Kruger, seen as Lisa, has little to do, spending most of the film inside the prison.

Tense and gripping

[houndtang75 · 9/10 · 6 June 2009]

Another Gallic thriller in the vein of Tell No One, but not to be sniffed at. Vincent Lindon is superb as the ordinary guy trying to bust his wife out of prison. Diane Kruger is also effective, if slightly implausibly beautiful, as the desperate wife. Their sympathetic, believable performances keep what could have been a far-fetched story grounded in reality. Some genuinely tense scenes are also well handled by the director. This is the third foreign language thriller I've seen a few weeks (others were Let the Right One In and Fermat's Room) and it has to be said the continentals are doing it better than the English language cinema. Anything For Her is well worth a look and it doesn't outstay its welcome at 96 minutes.

I want my time back

[brenswee · 4/10 · 24 November 2019]

This movie is so by-the-numbers it hurts. It has all the feel of a low budget TV movie. Maybe it actually is. Give it a miss.

She May Be The Reason ...

[writers_reign · 27 December 2008]

Wisely they don't ask Diane Kruger to do any acting apart from looking 1) ravishing and 2) anguished. She's an ordinary woman living an ordinary life with her teacher husband (Vincent Lindon) and son until one day she stumbles on to a crime in a car park, picks up the murder weapon unaware that's that what it is, as the murderer escapes. For being this dumb she winds up in the slammer and ordinary teacher husband Lindon spends the bulk of the film devising a plan to spring her. It's something of a novelty to see Lindon, a fine actor, in something as close to a caper movie as this but he acquits himself well and there is an element of suspense right until the last moment. More than worth a look.

Devotion to risk all

[mart-burton · 8/10 · 10 May 2012]

I thought this was a great European film by director Fred Cavayè. It blends male devotion to the woman he loves with thriller rugged stuff, as he plans to carry out her amazing prison rescue. Julien's a bright man who is told some pointers and soon has his wall covered with his hand-written cards, photos of people. And showing emotion, this normal teacher is drawn into high-risk, situations. And the husband has to hold a lot inside, even from his attractive wife, Lisa (Diane Kruger, German model and actor), so that the escape works to a happy reunion. More like a Bond with a regular life, with his son and his extended family, we want Julien to succeed. This great screenplay is well-acted and photographed. The film shows the ordinary, family world of the finely ageing French actor (Vincent Lindon) as he enters unfamiliar, knife-edge action to rescue the only woman he wants freed – his wrongly-imprisoned wife.