paris sure was dreary in the 80s

although i suppose that could have just been from roman polanski's viewpoint.

'frantic', 1988, starring harrison ford, betty buckley, and emmanuelle seigner in her debut role, is the story of a doctor and his wife visiting paris for some sort of medical conference, although they never actually make it there. shortly after checking into a ridiculously grey hotel, they realize that the wife has accidentally picked up the wrong bag at the airport. she steps out of the room while he's in the shower, and never comes back, which is kind of an awkward thing to have to report to the hotel management. paris seems to be full of unflappably unhelpful people, from dominique pinon, who wants cigarettes or cash in exchange for information, to john mahoney as a supremely uninterested embassy worker. harrison has cottoned on to the fact that she's been kidnapped, although no one seems to care or indeed believe him. the pace picks up once he's met the real owner of the suitcase, michelle (seigner, who dresses like a member of the village people.) it turns out, yes, she was kidnapped, by a bunch of arabs who wanted what michelle was smuggling in the suitcase, which is some sort of nuclear detonator.

it was all just a bit...slow. michelle makes some half-assed attempts to seduce the good doctor, who responds just as half-heartedly. betty buckley should consider herself lucky that she got to be kidnapped and excused for most of the film. the odd thing is, it really all should have been very exciting, it just...wasn't. even the ennio morricone soundtrack was flat. and to be honest, he never really gets all that frantic....