Mobius

Released by: Lionsgate Films
Released on: April 15th, 2014.
Director: í‰ric Rochant
Cast: Tim Roth, Cécile de France, Jean DuJardin
Year: 2013
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The Movie:

A beautiful and talented Franco-American financial trader named Alice (Cécile de France) works for a Monacan bank owned by a crooked Russian Oligarch named Ivan Rostovsky (Tim Roth). Immensely overqualified for her position, and two steps ahead of her befuddled superiors, Alice is languishing in her job; she was involved in the Lehman Brothers scandal and has been banned from practicing trading in the U.S. One day she is approached by agents of the FSB (in effect the former KGB) who enlist her services in providing them with information concerning Rostovsky's financial practices. What the FSB doesn't know is that Alice is also working for the CIA, who have offered her a deal that will essentially get her back to the States, provided she gives them information on Rostovsky. In the middle of this complex intrigue is Moise (Jean DuJardin), a member of the FSB who falls in love with Alice. The two begin a passionate romance while trying to keep out of the sights of the various intelligence services…

í‰ric Rochant's Mí¶bius wants very much to be a romantic thriller in the mode of Hitchcock (think To Catch a Thief). It has all the component parts of Hitchcock's classic but somehow the film feels like less than the sum of its parts. Mí¶bius gets some mileage out of the exotic locations (the action spans three continents) and it boasts an attractive international cast. On a purely visual level the film simply looks gorgeous, with an impressive production design; Rochant has said that he wanted his film to feel “glamorous” and in that regard it delivers (perhaps not as much as, say, a Bond film, but we're dealing with more low-key intrigue here).

Although marketed as an espionage thriller, the film slowly reveals itself to be essentially a clandestine romance between Moise and Alice, rending all the convoluted plots that surround them a whole lot of background noise. This proves to be a welcome relief from all the espionage, as one of the film's biggest faults is its often incoherent storytelling. Fans of the genre will know that films of this nature often require some work on the part of the viewer, but Mí¶bius seems overtly complicated and, for at least the first thirty minutes or so, downright confusing. There are many instances of clunky exposition and certain plot threads appear to be left unresolved at the film's conclusion.

Rochant has named his film after the Mí¶bius strip, an object that has only one surface and one edge, and although he means it to be a suggestive symbol for the film's double-spy plot, it ironically suits a story that seems to loop around in circles. What redeems the film slightly is the good chemistry between DuJardin (best known as the titular hero of the mock-silent comedy The Artist) and De France (horror fans will recognize her from Aja's popular, but overrated, High Tension); watching two good looking actors flirt in glitzy settings and then make love has its pleasures, but even in this regard we're dealing with all surface. We never really get to know these characters (you can blame the overstuffed plot which leaves the film no room to develop them) so our emotional investment in their plight is practically nonexistent. The film aims for pathos at its conclusion but it doesn't earn it; it takes more than a pair of 30-second Skype conversations with distant relatives to establish a character.

The film may be slick but it is superficial; references to financial scandals seem to be paying lip-services to those issues and the political intrigue between the Russians and the Americans is vague and unsatisfying. There is exactly one moment in the film that could constitute an “action scene,” and although it is exciting it serves to render the murky action that surrounds it leaden and joyless. Ultimately, it appears that the film is attempting too much and thus not satisfying any of its disparate elements. Although the filmmakers obviously want to eschew the over-the-top theatrics of mainstream spy movies (like the Bourne films or the aforementioned Bond series) in favor of a more realistic drama, they fail to populate their film with people and instead fill it with pretty faces wearing stylish clothes.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Lionsgate's blu-ray of Mí¶bius offers a 1080p transfer that is presented in 2.40:1. As mentioned before, Rochant's film is an instance of showy style over lugubrious substance; you may not be able to quite get a hold of what's going on but at least you'll enjoy the view. The transfer here is great and there's no flaws whatsoever, and (as befitting new releases) the detail is extremely high.

The audio option for Mí¶bius is a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio track in a 5.1 mix. The main feature is in English, with French and Russian subtitles automatically toggled when their respective languages occur in the film. The dialogue is clean and easy to understand throughout. This is a dialogue-heavy film so the rear channel speakers mostly kick in to coincide with the occasional soundtrack cue or diagetic music (there are a couple of nightclub scenes that will wake up your subwoofer). The blu-ray also offers Spanish and English SDH subtitle options.

The main extras on Lionsgate's disc are a series of interviews with writer/director í‰ric Rochant (19 minutes), Tim Roth (6 minutes), Jean DuJardin (13 minutes) and Cécile de France (4 minutes). Rochant's is the most substantive, as he explains the genesis of the film and its themes. There are also a curious trio of featurettes under the headline “The Making of Mí¶bius” that are oddly redundant with the interviews, save a curious 2 minute piece in which the actors struggle to explain Mí¶bius strips (I could relate, as I struggled to understand this film). Finally, there's a brief trailer and a series of other titles from Lionsgate.

The Final Word:

In the supplements of Lionsgate blu-ray of Mí¶bius, the interviewer(s) occasionally imply that Alice and Moise are a “mythic” couple. The implication here is that Rochant's film is operating in the grand tradition of romantic thrillers, but the presumptuousness of these claims (and the speculation of whether or not they will “endure” in film history) smacks of a lot of press-release hot-hair. Mí¶bius is a fairly diverting espionage thriller that looks good but is ultimately not worth the effort to unpack. It may be worth a rental for fans of the genre.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!