QUICK REVIEW: Un Homme Ideal

This is a movie that will bring back to your mind the most popular novels by Patricia Highsmith, both in terms of plot and characterization. The hero is a young aspiring writer who stumbles upon a forsaken manuscript by a deceased author that he steals to make his dream come true. After the commercial and critical success of his first book, the protagonist Mathieu, Vasseur, feels brave enough to approach the young upper-class literature professor, Alice, and they soon become a happy couple. When Mathieu moves into Alice's house, where she lives along with her parents, he will have to face major challenges as he realizes that there is also someone else who knows the truth about his scam and he blackmails him for vast amounts of money.

Mathieu is the typical anti-hero, reminiscent to characters such as Tom Ripley, immoral, unprincipled, and ready to remove permanently any potential threats to his new posh lifestyle. The plot moves forward at a brisk pace and the suspense that permeates the movie as a whole keeps the viewer glued to his seat. Un Homme Ideal is a movie similar, as far as the story is concerned, to an American production, titled The Words (2012) starring Bradley Cooper and Dennis Quaid. If you choose to give it a chance, it is sure that you won't regret it.