X
- 1998
- Strand Releasing
- 2 h 19 m
- 1998
- Strand Releasing
- 2 h 19 m
Summary A medical student returning to France finds himself mixed up in a dark affair of espionage between the Eastern and Western blocs, involving agents of the DGSE (French foreign intelligence service).
Directed By: Arnaud Desplechin
- 1998
- Strand Releasing
- 2 h 19 m
- 1998
- Strand Releasing
- 2 h 19 m
The Sentinel
67
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Summary A medical student returning to France finds himself mixed up in a dark affair of espionage between the Eastern and Western blocs, involving agents of the DGSE (French foreign intelligence service).
Directed By: Arnaud Desplechin
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
67
80% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
20% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
67
80% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
20% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
While La Sentinelle doesn't end with a conventionally satisfying payoff, Desplechin's thoughtful and meticulously detailed direction offers many other rewards.
Although the thriller aspect of "La Sentinelle" doesn't quite add up, the film is still an absorbing, psychologically resonant portrait of French student life. As directed by Desplechin, the attractive young cast hardly seems to be acting.
This creepy and cryptic early film from director Arnaud Desplechin isn't as assured as his MY SEX LIFE... (OR HOW I GOT INTO AN ARGUMENT), but it has its own intriguing charms.
Although the drama doesn't quite live up to its early promise, much of it is emotionally involving and intellectually stimulating. [22 May 1992, p.12]
Salinger’s a rather wan screen presence, and the film’s both overlong and undercooked; but the head, frequently seen in lingering close-up, is so realistically gruesome that you wind up transfixed anyhow.
More than two hours in length, The Sentinel packs too much into a weird tale that shifts ground between political thriller and psychological drama -- too much to be completely comprehensible except to Desplechin himself. It would require a severe editing job to rescue it, even for the friendly art-house crowd. [19 May 1992]
My Sex Life, for all its virtues, was a bit conventional and bland, but The Sentinel is genuinely crazy and a lot more interesting, mainly because it has a meatier subject: the end of the cold war and what this means to French yuppies.
User Reviews
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Production Company
Why Not Productions,
2001 Audiovisuel,
La Sept Cinéma,
Films A2,
Canal+,
Investimage 3,
Sofiarp,
Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC),
Société des Producteurs de Cinéma et de Télévision (Procirep),
Arte France Cinéma,
France 2 Cinéma
Release Date Oct 16, 1998
Duration 2 h 19 m
Awards
César Awards, France
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations
Bogota Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Acteurs à l'Écran
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
