An edgy political thriller that will keep you with bated breath.

☆☆☆☆

Written by: Marta Vezzani

Thomas Kruithof‘s movie tells us the story of Duval: a middle-aged, outwardly bland, financially struggling man who is looking for employment two years after suffering a nervous breakdown and alcohol issues. He gets hired by a secretive employer to transcribe phone tapped conversations, which brings him into the heart of a cat-and-mouse political game and gets him trapped in the French secret services underworld.

A movie full of meaningful glances and intense silences, with talented actors such as François Cluzet, who is able to speak and convey emotions without using words. All of it framed by a spot-on soundtrack that amplifies the viewers’ emotions during the whole movie. Scribe makes you bate your breath, while engages you with its captivating story. The empathy built up by the main character with the audience makes the spectator constantly trying to put the plot puzzle together with him through out the movie, piece by piece, scene by scene.

The evolution of the main character is another key point to increase the empathy between Duval and the viewer. The movie starts with a middle-mannered man who passively accepts everything that happens to him, who does what he’s told to do without questioning; and it ends with a man who developed a steely quick-wittedness and takes his own decisions even if he’s part of a game that he doesn’t fully understand.

The typewriter, used by main character, is also playing a very important role in the movie, not only for its cinematic appeal, loved by Thomas Kruithof, but also for its meaning. For Duval himself it represents him becoming a man-machine, due to his job, at a certain stage of the movie. Also it is a reflection of secret organizations and how they work. It’s also a sign of the accurate research made by the director regarding this topic. In fact, another main point of the plot is the hostage crisis, that the director considers as a political currency during election campaign. Inspired by the Lebanon hostage crisis in 1983-1984, and other similar events, Kruithof highlights all the talks, conspiracies and competitions that happen “in the dark”, leaving everyday-human being not aware of what is really happening.

To conclude, this movie makes you think about the political system and hierarchy seen from the inside but from the citizen point of you, who is not involved in the corruption game and sees things as they are.