Rapt

Lucas Belvaux's hostage thriller is as much enthralling as it is thought-provoking, proving there are still great directors taking new and intelligent approaches to the genre.

The film follows a wealthy industrialist who is kidnapped and held ransom for fifty million Euros. While his family and business partners squabble about paying the ransom, it emerges in the press that he has been having a string of affairs, leaving his family uncertain about their feelings if he were to return.

Director Lucas Belvaux, who is known as an actor (Army of Crime) as well as a director (One), skillfully draws us into the familiar territory of the hostage situation, providing us with the dark and brutal captors, the uncomfortable imprisonment scenes, as well as the thrilling chase sequences.

However, Rapt offers more than simply a trite story with a few thrills here and there; with confidence and seeming ease the film explores the darker depths of the family and the complications that arise as they cope with the shocking revelation of his infidelity, proving the director's ambition to go one step further with the conventions of the genre.  

Yvan Attal (It's Easier For A Camel, Munich, Rush Hour 3) turns in a pitch-perfect performance as the affluent businessman facing the merciless hands of his captors, brilliantly portraying the helplessness and turmoil of his character. Likewise, Anne Consigny

(The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, A Christmas Tale) is terrific playing his distraught wife, unable to come to terms with the new tensions on their relationship.

Rapt is immensely engaging from start to finish, with incredibly well-choreographed chase sequences, melancholic family moments and profound questions of morality. For anyone who loves well-acted intelligent thrillers, this one is not to be missed.