Synopsis:
Dombey, France, 1944 – In line with Nazi commands, PIERRE BROSSARD (Michael Caine), a young officer in the Vichy Milice, gives the order for the execution of 7 Jews.
France, Present Day – DAVID...
Dombey, France, 1944 – In line with Nazi commands, PIERRE BROSSARD (Michael Caine), a young officer in the Vichy Milice, gives the order for the execution of 7 Jews.
France, Present Day – DAVID MANDELBAUM (Matt Craven), 42, has been hired to kill a man he can identify only through an old photograph to be PIERRE BROSSARD. He is to leave a statement on the body citing this act as justice for the Jews of Dombey. He waits at a bar in the cote d'Azur, knowing that BROSSARD is due to arrive to pick-up a letter. Recognizing BROSSARD, he follows him out of the bar and then by car into the deserted hillside. When DAVID attempts to ambush him on the road to the Abbey de St Cros, the wily and quick BROSSARD manages to turn the tables and instead kills DAVID, disposing of the body by rolling the car over a cliff into a ravine. Shaken by the encounter, BROSSARD realizes that he must find new shelter immediately. Aside from being protected by elements within the church, Brossard has also been helped by a group of former Vichy colleagues. He turns to his Vichy contact, COMMISSAIRE VIONNET (Frank Finlay), for guidance.
Meanwhile, in the Palais de Justice in Paris, JUDGE ANNE MARIE LIVI (Tilda Swinton) opens her investigation of BROSSARD who has now been charged with crimes against humanity. ANNE MARIE explains to COLONEL ROUX (Jeremy Northam), whom she has enlisted to assist her, that they must be wary of everyone until they discover who has been sheltering BROSSARD for all these years. She also adds that she is determined to expose the church as an accomplice for providing BROSSARD with a safe haven.
Unbeknownst to ANNE MARIE, DAVID's failure means that another hit man – MICHAEL LEAVY (Noam Jenkins) – has been placed on BROSSARD's trail. MICHAEL's sole contact with his employers is through a man named POCHON (Ciaran Hinds) who gives him instructions.
Through various intercepts, ANNE MARIE and ROUX advance their investigation to the point where they now believe that BROSSARD has been hidden by a secret group within the church called the Chevaliers and that a vigilante Jewish organization is trying to assassinate BROSSARD.
ANNE MARIE's diligence catches the attention of high government officials and she is called in to see MINISTER BERTIER (Alan Bates), an old family friend who nevertheless warns her against pursuing this matter. He threatens her with dire consequences. But ANNE MARIE LIVI is not so easily deterred.
ROUX visits BROSSARD's confessor and champion CARDINAL LE MOYNE (William Hutt) to whom just hours previously BROSSARD admitted his culpability in DAVID's death. ROUX is unable to extract information from LE MOYNE because LE MOYNE defends BROSSARD as a man who once erred but has since become a repentant Christian.
As DAVID's body is discovered in the ravine near St Cros, ROUX heads to the region to gather evidence from the local police. ANNE MARIE, frustrated by the lack of answers, is determined to go public with BROSSARD's photograph – convinced that the press coverage will force him out into the open. In one sense she proves to be correct as BROSSARD is turned away from some religious houses that are worried both about the newspapers and the new directive from the Cardinal de Lyon forbidding anyone to help BROSSARD. In another sense, however, this exposure drives BROSSARD into deeper hiding.
BROSSARD goes to the one place he knows no one will find him: the apartment of his estranged wife, NICOLE (Charlotte Rampling). Less than thrilled to see him, NICOLE only allows him to stay when he threatens to harm her beloved dog.
The investigation by ANNE MARIE and ROUX as well as the instructions given to MICHAEL point them all in the direction of an Abbey where, indeed, BROSSARD is hiding.
At the crack of dawn, with MICHAEL waiting in a nearby car, ROUX and ANNE MARIE arrive with soldiers and a search warrant. Unluckily for them all, BROSSARD, with instincts sharpened from years of hiding, evades them at the last moment. In his haste, he abandons many of his personal effects and these serve as valuable clues for ROUX and ANNE MARIE.
BROSSARD hurries to the Bar Mathieu where he expects his usual stipend to arrive by post. At the bar, MICHAEL waits in the toilet, hoping to kill BROSSARD. BROSSARD again is too suspicious and too quick, shooting MICHAEL before he can draw his gun. He escapes before MICHAEL's body is found and the police are involved.
Hunted from all sides, BROSSARD moves again – this time to the Priory of St Donat. In BROSSARD's possessions ROUX and ANNE MARIE discover a list of Abbeys with dates alongside. They also find an old photograph from 1944 showing BROSSARD and another young man. Could this young man be the octogenarian for whom POCHON works? Back in Paris, we see POCHON being scolded by an elderly gentleman who now commands that POCHON himself get rid of BROSSARD.
BROSSARD contacts his Vichy contact, the COMMISSAIRE, and learns that their mutual friend POCHON will meet him with a passport and everything needed to start a new life. Meanwhile, ROUX and ANNE MARIE plan another ambush – on the Priory of St Donat. Again, they are foiled by members of the church who help BROSSARD escape before they can search the Priory. They learn of the COMMISSAIRE's connection to BROSSARD and send the police to arrest him. Under interrogation the COMMISSAIRE provides details for the rendezvous between POCHON and BROSSARD. ROUX and ANNE MARIE rush to the meeting place but are too late. POCHON has already executed BROSSARD, pinning the Statement to his chest.
It is, however, BROSSARD's death that allows ANNE MARIE to apprehend POCHON and through him, uncover the deeper conspiracy. -- © Sony Pictures Classics
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