I wie Ikarus

Mir gefällt, wie der Begriff "Yves Montand in einem politischen Thriller" praktisch ein eigenes Untergenre des französischen Films ist, das eine Fülle von sehr fesselnden und qualitativ hochwertigen Werken bietet, zu denen dies definitiv gehört. Auch als Ikarus ist ein strukturell interessanter Thriller, der mehrere recht einfache Expositionen enthält, um das Hintergrundwissen über das politische Verbrechen aufzudecken. Jede Exposition ist einzigartig, packend und zugleich sehr wortwörtlich lehrreich. Der entschlossene Abschluss wird vom aufmerksamen Zuschauer zwar im Voraus erahnt, mindert jedoch keineswegs die beeindruckende Wirkung des Films. (29.11.2021)

The investigation of the JFK assassination without JFK. The apparent similarity, or what Vian says in the opening of the film, that just because it apparently didn’t happen doesn’t mean that it could not have happened that way, is not coincidental. Leaving aside that conspiracy angle on the JFK realities, even purely on its own it's a disturbing, detached procedural thriller par excellence. The most famous passage is the chilling performance of the Milgram experiment; and rightly so. A proven "Verneuil" genre quality that has lost none of its relevance. (22.10.2022)

Although I really like some of his directorial work, I generally have a problem with Henri Verneuil, I usually find his films quite naive with a logic that often takes a holiday. This is the case here, too, unfortunately, and I found the much-praised scientific experiment naive; and the lure of Morricone was absolutely untapped. My attention in this cold, verbose procedural was held only by my favourite Yves Montand, who was never a Belmondo or Delon type star, but his charisma and acting skills were unquestionable (e.g. he was absolutely riveting in The Confession). And the final twist? Well... it didn’t knock me down, but that ending IS impressive. (12.01.2022)