The Lost Son (film)

The Lost Son
The Lost Son
	DVD cover
Directed by	Chris Menges
Written by	Eric Leclere; Margaret Leclere; Mark Mills;
Produced by	Finola Dwyer
Starring	Daniel Auteuil; Ciarán Hinds; Katrin Cartlidge;
Cinematography	Barry Ackroyd
Edited by	Luc Barnier; Pamela Power;
Music by	Goran Bregović
Production; companies	The Film Consortium; Canal+;
Distributed by	United International Pictures (United Kingdom); BAC Films (France);
Release date	25 June 1999 (United Kingdom);
Running time	102 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom; France;
Languages	English; French;

The Lost Son is a 1999 crime drama starring French actor Daniel Auteuil and set in London. It was directed by Chris Menges.^[1]

Plot

Xavier Lombard is a Parisian private detective based in London. His best friend is Nathalie, a high-class call girl. He gets a telephone call from an old friend in the Paris police department, now a businessman whose brother-in-law is missing. The missing man's parents hire Xavier over their daughter's objections, and he quickly finds himself caught up in the underworld of child sex slavery. He guesses that the lost son is dead and shifts his focus to finding and breaking this lucrative business of child trafficking. He gets a reluctant Nathalie to hunt "the Austrian", the shadowy head of the pedophile ring. Violence erupts quickly, and Xavier soon has little more to lose.

Cast

Daniel Auteuil - Lombard
Marianne Denicourt - Nathalie
Nastassja Kinski - Deborah
Katrin Cartlidge - Emily
Ciarán Hinds - Carlos
Bruce Greenwood - Alex Friedman
Billie Whitelaw - Mrs Spitz
Cyril Shaps - Mr. Spitz
Jamie Harris - Hopper
Cal Macaninch - Martin
Hemal Pandya - Shiva
Billy Smyth - "Boy No 6"

Reception

The film opened in the UK on 25 June 1999 on 24 screens and grossed £15,059 in its opening weekend.^[2]

DVD Verdict panned the film, writing "The Lost Son has its heart in the right place, but it fumbles the ball by presenting an idea with great potential in a fairly lackluster package. There is not enough substance here to make the film worthy of a purchase."^[3] The Herald was mixed in their review, stating that Menges "handles the unpleasant aspects in Eric and Margaret Leclere's script with tact" but that the film had too many unbelievable moments.^[4]

References

^ ""On Guard"". 19 October 2002.
^ "International box office: UK/Ireland". Screen International. 2 July 2000. p. 26.
^ Pinsky, Mike (20 June 2001). "The Lost Son (review)". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
^ Russell, William (24 June 1999). "This one is a wrap, folks; New releases". The Herald (subscription required). Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.

External links

The Lost Son, by Eric Leclere (pub. Alibi Books 1999, London) - The original novel on which the film was based.
The Lost Son at IMDb
The Lost Son at Rotten Tomatoes

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[1] ""On Guard"". 19 October 2002.

[2] "International box office: UK/Ireland". Screen International. 2 July 2000. p. 26.

[3] Pinsky, Mike (20 June 2001). "The Lost Son (review)". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2015.

[4] Russell, William (24 June 1999). "This one is a wrap, folks; New releases". The Herald (subscription required). Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.

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