
Stars:
Gerard Depardieu,
Roman Polanski
Director:
Giuseppe Tornatore
Summary: Onoff is a famous writer who has become a recluse but hasn't published any new books for some time. When he is picked up in a dishevelled state and without any memory by the police the investigations start...
Two legendary screen talents go head-to-head in this intriguing, utterly original psychological thriller, described by one critic as "Colombo meets Kafka." Gerard Depardieu stars as Onaff, a famed French novelist who is arrested in a small provincial town when he is found breathless and disorientated in a raging storm. Although he has committed no crime, the local police call in the Inspector (Roman Polanski, in a brilliantly brittle performance), who interrogates Onaff about the identity of a mutilated murder victim found near Onaff's home. Almost all of the action takes place in the dark and leaky provincial police station, where Onaff and The Inspector spend the entire evening playing a brutal game of cat-and-mouse. Through flashbacks, distortions, and outright lies, the well-matched adversaries plumb the depths of the mystery before reaching the astonishing truth. A dark and suspenseful rumination on memory and the ability to reconstruct one's own life story, this character-driven thriller is a claustrophobic homage to the surreal storytelling of Kafka and Samuel Beckett. Featuring a haunting soundtrack from Italian master Ennio Morricone, A PURE FORMALITY is a chilling drama directed by Giuseppe Tornatore.