'Under Paris (Sous la Seine)' movie review: Cliche ridden unsatisfying thriller

Under Paris

Film: Under Paris (Sous la Seine)
Cast: Bérénice Bejo, Nassim Lyes, Léa Léviant
Director: Xavier Gens
Rating: 2/5
Runtime: 101 min

Imagine a shark infested river… ‘Under Paris' wants you to believe in that flimsy, improbable premise. Director Xavier Gens credited for the screenplay alongside Yannick Dahan and Maud Heywang, which in turn originates from a blueprint by Yaël Langmann and Olivier Torres, who themselves have adapted the idea by Edouard Duprey and Sébastien Auscher, make a mess of it all. Did not think it would take so many ideas, originators and writers to make something so unexciting and forgettable.

The opening sequence has an entire research group being terrorised and gobbled up by a shark. Sophia (Bérénice Bejo) the brilliant marine scientist's husband was one of the victims of that opening shark attack.

Coincidentally, much later on, she learns from a young environmental activist Mika (Léa Léviant), that the monster shark in question who killed her husband has now become resident in the Seine. To make matters more intense, Paris is in the midst of hosting a massive triathlon race which also includes swimming in the Seine.

So Sophia and Mika team up with police sergeant Adil (Nassim Lyes) to make sure the participants are not harmed. But it's obviously not going to be a done deal.

The deep dive into eco-terrorism and politics brings flimsy relief. There's hardly any tension or horror and the frenzied editing doesn't allow for consistent engagement.

The opening sequence is pretty effective but after that there's not much here to get terrorised about.

Firstly, the chancy nature of the story idea itself makes the believability impossible. The river is way too small for so much to happen in its midst. The sharks look fake, the effects are tacky and other than the beauty of Paris, the cinematography has nothing distinctive to show. Though carrying a card for saving the environment, the mishmash of ideas and tones fail to convert into a coherent whole. Add to that bland, uninteresting characters, uninspired performances and poor cliche ridden writing and the sum up is disappointing to say the least. At best, this is a mediocre unsatisfying thriller.