Next Time I'll Aim for the Heart (2014) User Reviews (16)

French serial killer thriller

[t-dooley-69-386916 · 7/10 · 26 April 2015]

Original French title for this film is "La prochaine fois je viserai le coeur". It is based upon the real events that took place in 1978 - 79 in Oise County in France. A serial killer just starts killing young women and dumping their bodies. He then sends taunting letters to both the Police and their Gendarme cousins (separate departments). That is when the hunt is on. We know from pretty early on who the culprit is and so this is more of an examination of who this man was and what were his motives as well as a recreation of what took place.

The film plays out in a linear fashion with no back story and the makers have said they have had to use a lot of imagination and even supposition to fill those blanks in. So it is a work of fiction. Guillaume Canet ('Tell No-one') as the exemplar Gendarme with sociological issues is both chilling and convincing. The period detail is rather good but the eagle eyed amongst you will spot the same cars being used in different scenes (keep an eye out for a Triumph Herald) and as plot goes this does not hang about. As all thrillers need to be it is fast paced, there is an air of tension and the violence is both effective and at the same time done in an understated way.

All in all a very good French film - the subs could have been better - but that is generally the case these days. That said even at 111 minutes this felt like a much shorter film and as such it is one I would recommend.

Nice psychological thriller

[rubenm · 7/10 · 20 December 2014]

A serial killer who at the same time is a law enforcer, helps to investigate his own crimes. That's the subject of this French thriller, based on a true story. The killer seems to be beyond suspicion and knows all the tricks in the book not to get caught. This leads to bizarre episodes: the policeman's face perfectly resembles the police sketch of the presumed killer, but even when he confronts possible witnesses with the sketch, nobody gets alarmed.

The film makers not only tell the crime story of how the killer eventually gets caught, but also highlight the Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde-personality of the policeman (or gendarme to be more precise). The killer is a ruthless psychopath, but when he is dressed in his uniform he is a polite, hard working and scrupulous man.

So this film is half thriller, half psychological drama. In my opinion, this works well. The director gradually builds up the suspense: more and more elements are found to reveal the identity of the killer, and as a viewer you see the net around him slowly tightening.

The film is set in 1978, and the period details are very nicely done. Since there is a lot of driving around, the film makers had to use lots of French cars from that era.

This is a nice thriller, in the style of the famous French 'policiers', with an intelligent screenplay and interesting character development.

Intelligent, cold character study of a French serial killer

[Sir_AmirSyarif · 7/10 · 14 June 2020]

Intelligent, pretty cold character study of a French serial killer of young girls that, unfortunately, only took stabs at the surface without digging deeper into the meaningful material. The casting is excellent with Guillaume Canet's performance as the exemplar Gendarme with sociological issues is both chilling and convincing.

cold

[Kirpianuscus · 1 July 2015]

cold, dark, precise. portrait of a serial killer using details and suggestion. a splendid role of Guillaume Canet. and a lot of questions. because it is not exactly adaptation of a case. but picture of society. because it is not presents motifs or excuses , not gives an anti-hero, not use drops of romanticism. it is only a cold image about a man and his crimes. Ana Girardot is a nice surprise. inspired option for remind another kind of Sonia from Crime and Punishment. the images, the dialogs, the story. nothing as part of a classic crime. only as support of reflexion. about universe as puzzle from Ionesco's small crumbs from his plays.

And THEN I Killed ...

[writers_reign · 6/10 · 23 January 2015]

This is something of a hybrid inasmuch as it is based on real events that happened thirty years ago and the perpetrator is still very much alive and incarcerated in a secure psychiatric unit. What is never made really clear is why a gendarme would suddenly begin killing young girls at random, initially running them down and later picking them up as hitch-hikers, shooting them and dumping them by the roadside. There is no attempt at sexual molestation, the killing itself seems to provide sufficient satisfaction. It is not surprising that Guillaume Canet elected to play the lead. This fine actor/director can take his pick of leading roles but, not unlike Isabelle Huppert, he has a penchant for the offbeat and unusual and once again he delivers a compelling performance. As an added twist the murderer is a gendarme, a French title not unlike special Constable in England. As the murders take place in the area in which he works he is, in effect, investigating his own crimes - Yves Montand of course did much the same thing in Police Python 357 but that was a fictional situation whilst this is very real. Not perhaps everyone's cup if The but the central performance is well worth seeing.

This serial killer movie has a good clammy quality to it.

[MOscarbradley · 7/10 · 29 April 2017]

This French serial killer movie is based on fact but an intertitle at the start tells us that it is also a work of 'imagination'. It's the kind of film the Americans do better but it has a clammy quality nevertheless and revealing the killer in the opening minutes actually adds to the tension and it's well acted and it's well directed by Cedric Anger. For reasons that will become clear very early on it concentrates very much on the police investigation while at the same time giving us a good, detailed psychological portrait of the killer. Unfortunately the film doesn't appear to have had much of a distribution so it's very possible it passed you by.

nice performance

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 29 May 2019]

It's winter 1978. French national police gendarme officer Franck Neuhart is a serial killer. He runs down Alice with his car and shots her three times. She survives and Franck writes in a letter to the police vowing "Next Time I'll Aim for the Heart". He starts hunting for young female hitchhikers.

There is a missed opportunity. Otherwise, this is a solid character study of a serial killer. Guillaume Canet plays it like a calm, nice guy. He's not out of control other than the killings. I like that he's messy killer. It's not another one of those precise serial killer TV shows. There is a horror to how normal Franck seems to be until he's alone with the girls. The missed opportunity is the lack of mystery. It could have kept the killer's identity a secret until a surprise midway reveal. Without that mystery, there is a lack of tension early in the movie. It takes a little while for the story to pick up steam. This is a good performance although the movie could have been more exciting.

French thriller based on true events: beware of lone man offering rides

[Kicino · 7/10 · 1 December 2014]

I always like movies based on true stories. I also like suspense story. This one is interesting as it is a crime story and the suspect is also a law enforcer.

This French thriller is based on a true story where a gendarmerie (a type of national security force in France) shot young women at random between in 1978 and 1979. The strange and fascinating thing is he was assigned to investigate his own case.

The movie is quite thrilling and haunting. As the story is told from the perspective of this sick man, we follow him around and witness all his strange acts towards himself: he has a habit of self-torture – barb- wired himself, take icy bath and beat himself up. He lives alone though he has a family whom he does not seem to be close to. He has a habit of distancing himself from society and his family. On relationship, he seems to have difficulty with intimacy even though he has an admirer.

Obviously he is sick and needs help. The horrible thing is he has a reputable job and seems to function well. He is in the gendarmerie which enables him to use guns and a command of respect from innocent women. Don't his colleagues and admirer notice anything? If so what do they do? If not, why not? It is buzzard and keeps you on the edge of worrying who will be the next victim and how he will be caught. It is more thrilling as we do not know which part is true and which part is pure fiction.

Now the story itself is interesting but I wish there would be more description/insights on how and why he became who he was, as well as how he was trapped. The tempo is a bit slow so it feels kind of dragging. But the acting was good and on the whole it is quite engaging to watch, particularly if you are interested in personality development.

Inside a disturbed mind

[dakjets · 8/10 · 25 August 2015]

This french film about a serial killer manages to take the viewer inside his disturbed and tormented mind. It really is shocking to watch, and observe his tragic life, and the horrible things he does. The film is based on true events, and the film captures the environment the events took place in a very good way. The film is made in a credible manner. All though we get to know the killer well, it is impossible to predict what he will do. This makes the film nerve wracking to watch.

The casting is excellent by the way. Strong and convincingly performances.

This film is one of the best I have seen of french films.

Good true story serial killer movie..!

[kamalbeeee · 7/10 · 21 June 2023]

A police officer cum serial killer targets the random girls and kills them brutally... He erase the evidence by using his police power.. Soo police department got very challenge to catch the him... But at last catch him with strong evidence... Good making and photography... Protogonist acted soo well..!

One time watchable movie..!

A police officer cum serial killer targets the random girls and kills them brutally... He erase the evidence by using his police power.. Soo police department got very challenge to catch the him... But at last catch him with strong evidence... Good making and photography... Protogonist acted soo well..!

One time watchable movie..!

Half of a Thriller

[cronostitan · 5/10 · 15 November 2014]

NEXT TIME I AIM HEART is the perfect example of what could have been a very good movie: one emphasize at first the narrative pulled by a "true story" then one tells the tale with showing the murders with the at least strange behavior of the killer, a french cop in real life - military side. Exactly thus like a TV documentary which does not possess a point of view, the director tells everything whereas the spectator's guessing facts...

What then ? Why this movie would be better that any rag paper as" The New Detective? There is, regrettably, no reason for it because the mechanism of the pathos is played with the regularity of a Swiss clock of one vulgar funny gag of Naked Gun's movie. Not to mention the music which is only re-underlining the drama of the story, in case to we would have understood nothing at all !

Nevertheless in spite of these heavy and dumb brass instruments, the performance of Canet is rather good, and does not suffer by any lack of realism, as well as some ones wrote it in the press critics. And then some sequences add curiously to the suspense of the movie climax - for example the scene of pursuit in Peugeot 604. Nevertheless the movie quotes in forest are worth the manual of a perfect boy scout, but on the other hand, are suffering from giant clichés but hold more or less the road, especially if you have already read Baden Powell back in your life: easy to understand, it is all quite black or all quite white exactly like a suburban sky.

So, cut off the sound and you'll be feeling in the end watching yourself a giallo more or less made in the 70's, sent only straight to video. And I know what I'm talking about...

A very good film that hints with - but doesn't quite achieve - greatness

[runamokprods · 8/10 · 30 July 2016]

Intelligent, frosty character study of a French serial killer of young girls, based on a real case from the 1970s. The super dark anti-hero is played with great subtlety by Guillaume Canet, and the film is very well shot.

But there's a last layer missing that keeps this from going from a very good film to a great one. As much as it's always interesting, and sometimes even heartbreaking, there's a lack of larger theme or context that keeps this confined to being a thriller/character study - if a very intelligent and thoughtful one - and not the rare film that transcends into something even larger.

But it's still very worth seeing as a study of a brilliant but tortured man compelled to horrible violence, and on 2nd viewing I found it a more powerful and emotional experience, catching details and moments I missed the first time around.

Next time French serial killer Alain Lamare would not be able to aim for the heart

[FilmCriticLalitRao · 9/10 · 26 March 2015]

There is no denying the fact that much has been written about serial killers in press especially in the print media. However, when it comes to depicting their crimes and shady lives, cinema has not been able to achieve considerable success. It might be due to the fact the cinema glamorizes their images to such a large extent that it is difficult to sift fact from fiction. French film "La Prochaine Fois Je Viserai Le Coeur" is about a unique serial killer. He is one of those rare serial killers who would flagellate himself in order to repent for crimes committed. One doesn't come across such exemplary behavior from most serial killers. French director Cedric Anger gives a detailed description of a police man (serial killer)'s failed romantic relationship with a married woman. However, his film does not answer numerous questions which begin with a big "Why" of all murders which were the handiwork of a police man. The film starts with an important disclaimer. It states : "This film is based on one of the most strange French criminal stories. The facts described here are, for a large extent, taken from official documents, statements and talks with concerned people". It doesn't prevent anybody from putting a question mark on French gendarmerie's ability to detect that something was wrong within their ranks. Next Time I'll Aim for the Heart is not an entertainment film Per Se despite its strong French box office figures of 490,537 tickets sold. Hence, it needs to be watched for the crucial role it is playing in letting the society know about the patterns of a serial killer.

who will guard the guards themselves ?

[myriamlenys · 8/10 · 31 March 2018]

A young man has great difficulty in feeling something. The ordinary joys and satisfactions of life do not gladden him, nor do the ordinary disappointments and sorrows sadden him. In a desperate bid to feel something - anything - he tries to conjure up strong sensations, by any means possible. It's the beginning of a descent into hell : as his quest robs him of his humanity, he needs ever stronger kicks to know, or feel, he's alive, which in turn pushes him towards ever greater crimes and betrayals. Devoid of any kind of insight in his condition, and moved by cruel and shameful drives, he is convinced that he is becoming his true self : a hunter, born to hunt his inferiors.

This, in a nutshell, is the subject matter of "La prochaine fois", a movie based on the real-life crimes of one Alain Lamare. Lamare seems to have been insane - later on, psychiatrists would conclude that he suffered from a rare form of schizophrenia. As his mind deteriorated, he went on a vicious crime spree, while working as a "gendarme" on the task force charged with investigating the selfsame spree. As if all of this wasn't confusing enough, he sent taunting letters to the task force and thus, by extension, to himself. He might have been caught earlier if the gendarmerie, in a fine display of corporate touchiness, hadn't concluded that none of its strapping young men could be a criminal.

"La prochaine fois" is a well-made and well-acted movie, intelligent and restrained. Apart from a few nature scenes the movie is executed in a drab, drained or chilly colour palette : a fitting metaphor for the desolation of the perpetrator's life. The various sets and locations too, breathe sadness, decay and solitude.

So this is a very powerful work. Still, it focuses so exclusively on the life and viewpoint of the protagonist that it threatens to become claustrophobic. Even two or three short scenes about the impact on wider French society would have added extra variety and interest.

Although the movie itself restrains from drawing wider political or societal conclusions, I think it should be made into mandatory viewing for experts charged with determining the mental health and fitness of people such as soldiers, policemen and security guards.

Highly recommended, yet not for everyone.

[punishmentpark · 9/10 · 18 January 2016]

Quite a sober, depressing and eerie account of a true tale (different names and some details, though) about a serial killer (he got caught pretty early on, but until then it seems he was only warming up), in which the viewer mostly just follows the main character's actions; a frustrated young man who works as a policeman whose history is mostly unclear, but there are little hints about his utter frustrations and how "his sensitive side was destroyed by a careless society" (or words to that effect), as he himself states at some point in the film.

It will be difficult, if not impossible, to prove that the aforementioned details were exactly as in the Alain Lamare case, but the film easily succeeds in presenting a haunting portrait of a man gone completely crazy, but at the same time shows a lot of restraint, has the perfect cover, is quite intelligent and physically apt. Though I will readily admit he made a silly mistake by leaving his fingerprints on those car plates - which is how he got caught.

Guillaume Canet plays Franck Neuhart with much conviction, but really, none of the cast members fail; Ana Girardot, as the burdened woman who unwittingly strikes up a relationship with Franck, deserves a special mention as well. The atmosphere and cinematography are appropriately depressing (almost to point of being dreamlike, which reflects the strange state in which Franck is in), in which the beautiful countryside of France - mostly filmed at night, or when it rains or it is misty - helps a lot.

9 out of 10.

Diary of a gendarme

[searchanddestroy-1 · 18 November 2014]

First, let me explain what a gendarme is, for no french viewers: a gendarme is a sort of military who is in charge of police duty. So, this said, this story is inspired from actual events that occurred thirty six years ago, in the north of France. A serial killer killed many young women, without rape, and it appeared that the murderer was a gendarme, who also investigated on his OWN crimes. Of course, every movie buff will think of Joseph Lewis' SO DARK THE NIGHT, where Steven Geray had the nearly same character Guillaume Canet has here. Guillaume Canet is outstanding in this film. I think he has never been better anywhere else. An astonishing performance. Nothing to argue about the film making or acting. A tremendous piece of work.