User Reviews

The film opens as a vehicle driven by Paul Flemming (Nick Mancuso) becomes mired in snow forcing him to trudge into a nearby small town, New Hope, where Good Samaritan Wayne (Jacques Godin) tows the automobile into a local repair shop, and then invites Paul to his home for dinner, where he meets Wayne's daughter Amy (Leah Pinsent), along with her betrothed, Jeff (Aidan Devine), who is instinctively suspicious of the visitor, and for good reason. An aspiring author, Paul explains to the others that he is a college professor, yet viewers of this film soon find, after his return to an anonymous large city, that he is instead a strong arm debt collector for an organized crime boss, Raymond Ravennes (Patrick Bauchau), and when a personal cheque that Flemming used to pay for the automobile repair in New Hope bounces, sentiment there naturally turns against him, although Wayne and Amy remain unaware of his vocation as a wrongdoer. Because she has fallen in love with him, Amy is not convinced that Paul is truly a scoundrel and goes to the "city" in an attempt to locate him, but is crestfallen when she discovers that his true name is David Murdock and that he was terminated from his college position. Meanwhile Paul, having become weary of his criminal existence, criminally assaults his employer and steals a large sum of money from him, whereupon he returns to New Hope with Ravennes in pursuit, and Flemming and Amy, now lovers, are about to face together a hazardous showdown. Seldom will a viewer experience a storyline hampered by such an extreme lack of logic and risible plot holes as within this film, in addition to drastic flaws in continuity that sharply reduce potential audience interest in the characters, and although the camera-work of Louis de Ernsted is consistently fine, direction by Yves Boisset is inert throughout. Nick Mancuso has upon occasion performed well, but when unbridled as here through weak leadership, his native hamminess reduces his parts to caricatures. Others of the cast of capable performers are obviously more comfortable speaking their customary Québécois than English; however, Anne Létourneau, in her defense, is especially victimized by the silliest dialogue of the screenplay. Acting honours must go to Pinsent for her intensely shaded turn in a film that is clearly forgettable.

Nick Mancuso gives us another flawed, not-quite-good-guy to watch, and as always, he's compelling. But you have to take his performance separately from the rest of the movie, of course, lest you fall into some of the plot holes and injure yourself. Some of it is almost too understated, such as the attraction that springs up between Mancuso and "farm girl" Leah Pinsett, since most of it seems to happen off screen. There are some clunkers, too, like the ending, which leaves you saying "but... what about... wait! you can't end it HERE!", and even a scene near the beginning where one minute they're in deep snow and the next in snow less greenery, and it's so dramatic a difference that one character actually throws out a rather "um, we don't get as much snow up here" line to excuse it. But Patrick Bauchau makes a rather elegant villain, and you know, it's only a movie, so I could be over thinking the whole thing.

My review was written in March 1991 after watching the movie on Monarch video cassette.

Yves Boisset has crafted a moody, rewarding thriller in "Double Identity". Film noir was backed by both Canadian and Frenchtv and debuts Stateside via video stores. (In France it was broadcast as a segment of the "Haute Tension" tv series under the episode title: "Frontiere du crime".

While lacking the flamboyant style of recent Boisset action features such as "Blue Like Hell", the film builds a cumulative power in limning Nick Mancuso's travails as a strong-arm hood collecting money for gangster Patrick Bauchau.

Pic opens with Mancuso stuck in the sticks with car trouble. He befriends the locals, but can't resist sniffing the mechanic with a bum check for $300.

A former college prof who lost his job and sheltered existence through debts and a hit and run accident, Mancuso is facing the dilemma of wanting to quit Bauchau's organization. Bauchau is angered by this and frames him for a murder, so Mancuso steals his boss' cache of money and splits for the country.

Mancuso's world-weary performance is to drawer and pic's brooding pace makes the most of its big city/sleepy countryside dichotomy in the tradition of classics like "Out of the Past" and "On Dangerous Ground". Supporting cast is solid, particularly Lelah Pinsent as the good girl who is disillusioned by him.

Impressively bleak final shot caps a nice little mood piece.