An author is at a low point in his life : he pines for his ex, his money is running out and he has lost the fire in his belly. He is approached by an older man with a mysterious background who asks him to write a book, to wit a clarion call to revolutionary action. The book is meant as a weapon in a shadowy war between politicians. When the writer agrees, he discovers that he has bitten off more than he can chew.
It's an interesting premise, but the movie doesn't do much with it. The main problem is that the movie finds it very, very difficult to build suspense. In the hands of, say, a Polanski or a Hitchcock this could have been a thrilling, exciting, disquieting ride, but now : meh.
On the other hand there are a few nice sketches of a particular intellectual environment : that of the various heirs of the Leftist "élan" of the sixties and seventies. (Watch the movie and you can smell environmentally responsible potato and cabbage soup prepared by a commune.) There are also a number of valid observations on politics and democracy - or rather, on politics and the lack of democracy - but again, the movie doesn't do much with these ideas, it all peters out in a sad fashion.
It's an interesting premise, but the movie doesn't do much with it. The main problem is that the movie finds it very, very difficult to build suspense. In the hands of, say, a Polanski or a Hitchcock this could have been a thrilling, exciting, disquieting ride, but now : meh.
On the other hand there are a few nice sketches of a particular intellectual environment : that of the various heirs of the Leftist "élan" of the sixties and seventies. (Watch the movie and you can smell environmentally responsible potato and cabbage soup prepared by a commune.) There are also a number of valid observations on politics and democracy - or rather, on politics and the lack of democracy - but again, the movie doesn't do much with these ideas, it all peters out in a sad fashion.