UNDER PARIS
(director/writer: Xavier Gens; screenwriters: Yannick Dahan, Maud Heywang, from an original idea by Edouard Duprey and Sebastien Auscher, that’s adapted to the screen by Yael Langmann and Olivier Torres; cinematographer: Nicolas Massart; editor: Riwanon Le Beller; music: Alec Cortes, Anthony d’Amario, Edouard Rigaudiere; cast: Bérénice Bejo (Sophia), Nassim Lyes (Adil), Léa Léviant (Mika), Anaïs Parello (Jade), Anne Marivin (mayor of Paris), Narisa Morimoto (Ben), Aurelia Petit (Angelie), Yannick Choirat (Chris Assalas); Runtime: 101; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Vincent Roget, Bastien Sirodol; Netflix; 2024-France/Belgium in French with English subtitles)
“Might be diverting enough to sate those looking for an uncomplicated shark film with some bite.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A bleak thriller about killer sharks invading the Seine. French filmmaker Xavier Gens (“Frontier (s)”/”The Divide”) co-writes it with Yannick Dahan and Maud Heywang, from an original idea by Edouard Duprey and Sebastien Auscher. It’s adapted to the screen by Yael Langmann and Olivier Torres.
Sophia (Bérénice Bejo) is a scientist at an aquarium, who lost her environmentalist husband to sharks three years ago in the North Pacific and now teams up with a police commander of the Paris River Brigade (Nassim Lyes) and an activist (Léa Léviant) to thwart a shark attack threatening the Paris World Triathlon Championships from the same tagged shark Lillith that killed her husband. Lillith brings other mako sharks to Paris in time for the sporting event. The toady mayor (Anne Marivin) gets the info on this but refuses to cancel the event and covers up the present dangers from the public.
Aside from a few bloody underwater sequences of shark-attacks in the Seine and the Catacombs beneath Paris, the thin story and weakly drawn characters have nothing more to say than to reassure us it’s not too late to save the ocean from pollution and all the plastic in it.
For those with an appetite for another “Jaws” copy-cat movie, this one is at least diverting enough to sate those looking for an uncomplicated shark film with some bite.
REVIEWED ON 6/13/2024 GRADE: C+