"Quelques Jours en Septembre" is a very ambitious first film for Argentinian author Santiago Amigorena and it shows. Given a relatively big budget (by European independent standards) and a cast to die for, Amigorena squanders it all from the beginning.
September 5th 2001, a French secret agent, Irène Montano, is contacted by a one time American colleague, Elliot, and asked to bring his daughter to meet him in Paris. However when Elliot's secret American son and a dangerous hit-man, John Turturro, show up the meeting is canceled. Irène quickly learns that Elliot has secret information concerning imminent events in the US. The meeting is rescheduled for September 10th in Venice. Irène and Elliot's children head to Venice with William Pound in toe for a showdown with Elliot.
Amigorena's film is curiously lacking suspense. It is one of the least thrilling thrillers I have ever come across. The link with September 11th 2001 is an intriguing idea, but it gets bogged down and ultimately lost in the poorly developed narrative. But worse than that is the empty feeling the 2 major set-pieces leave.
The first involves the abandoned Paris meeting when William Pound arrives at the hotel to surprise Irène and Elliot. This should be edge of the seat stuff and set up the entire picture, however Amigorena fails to engage the audience with flabby editing and too many close-up shots. High jinx this ain't.
The second major set-piece is the final showdown between Irène and Pound. This is even worse. The director completely fails to make it thrilling and leaves the film with a flat hung-over feeling.
In between we are given a mixture of thriller and comedy with an odd family drama thrown in as Irène and Elliot's children try to meet up with the elusive American spy. The films few strong points can be found in these sections.
As played by Juliette Binoche, Irène is an interesting character in search of a better film. We learn that she was a French secret agent involved in Middle-Eastern activities in the early 1990s. Now she has an office job, or as she puts it she is a spy teacher.
It is refreshing to see a female character in this sort of film who is every bit as tough and interesting as a male counterpoint. Binoche grabs the role with both hands and is very different to her usual persona. Sadly she is let down by the script which actually has her making duck and sheep noises at one point and having a pillow fight in another. But when she is shown at work as a secret agent, gun in hand, she is compelling.
As William Pound John Turturro is undermined by the script. The character is entirely ridiculous. An assassin who phones his analyst after killing someone and who quotes Homer as he cleans his bloodied knife after garroting an Italian agent. It comes across as utterly ridiculous and too far out to be an interesting or powerful nemesis for Irène. Why he is so hell bent on getting Elliot is never properly explored.
As Elliot Nick Nolte has a few scenes at the end. He does add some gravitas to the film and embodies the enigma of Elliot the film has created, but alas it is too much too late.
The technical specs of the film are first rate, with DP Christophe Beaucarne doing top work with the visuals. Paris is a neon lit rain soaked city, while Venice is filmed from an intimate, non picture postcard point of view. The film often blurs in and out of focus, a visual trope of Irène's eyesight minus her spectacle, but also a metaphor for the blurred reality of international terrorism and the involvement of US and European secret services.
In the end "Quelques Jours en Spetembre" has very little to recommend it. A film that had the potential and cast to be something special is not realized on any level and Amigorena fails to put a distinctive directorial mark on this disordered hodge-podge.
The film ends on a breaking news report from New York city on the morning of September 11th. What Irène did next I suspect would have made a far more interesting few days in September than those we witnessed from the 5th to that fateful day in 2001.