The Crimson Rivers

By EWAN McDONALD

Gruesome psycho-thriller which didn't make it to our cinema screens. It revolves around two cops: Niemans (Jean Reno), famous lone-wolf investigator from Paris, and Kerkerian (Vincent Cassel), a provincial policeman. Niemans is investigating the murder of a man who is found hanging 50m up, blind, his hands amputated. Kerkerian is investigating the desecration of a tomb containing a child whose mother said she was killed by the devil.

Both take place in a spectacular, desolate French alpine valley. There is a famous university on the mountainside. The children of its teachers go to school there and become professors themselves. Could there be a problem with inbreeding?

The two cases lead to the same places and the cops form a grumpy relationship as Niemans realises that Kerkerian is not a complete fool. They find another clue and a second victim.

At the last moment all is revealed, but the beauty - which is not at all the right word - of this macabre tale is in the telling, not the ending.

* Rental video, DVD: Today

* DVD features: movie (105 mins); English soundtrack; director and cast commentary (in French); The Investigation, 50-minute making-of feature; Post-Mortem, three features on production; filmographies; theatrical trailers.