Frontière(s) (2007)

Director:

Xavier Gens

Writer:

Xavier Gens (writer)

Release Date:

23 January 2008 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

What are your boundaries?

Plot:

A gang of young thieves flee Paris during the violent aftermath of a political election, only to hole up at an Inn run by neo-Nazis.

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Teenager | Hospital | Riot | Severed Finger

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Karina Testa	...	Yasmine
Samuel Le Bihan	...	Goetz
Estelle Lefébure	...	Gilberte
Aurélien Wiik	...	Alex
David Saracino	...	Tom
Chems Dahmani	...	Farid
Maud Forget	...	Eva
Amélie Daure	...	Klaudia
Rosine Favey	...	La vieille trachéo
Adel Bencherif	...	Sami
Joël Lefrançois	...	Hans
Patrick Ligardes	...	Karl
Jean-Pierre Jorris	...	Le Von Geisler
Stéphane Jacquot	...	Le policier
Christine Culerier	...	Infirmière urgences
Hervé Berty	...	Agent de sécurité hôpital
Jean-Jérôme Bertolus	...	le journaliste TV
Antoine Coesens	...	Le politicien
Sandra Dorset	...	La femme 'emballée'
Henri-Pierre Plais	...	Le enfant aveugles
Maiko Vuillod	...	Le enfant aveugles
Patrick Vigne	...	Le enfant aveugles
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yannick Dahan	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Xavier Gens

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Xavier Gens		writer

Produced by
Luc Besson	....	co-producer
Hubert Brault	....	executive producer
Eric Garoyan	....	co-producer
Karim Guellaty	....	associate producer
Rodolphe Guglielmi	....	co-producer
Bertrand Ledélézir	....	co-producer
Noël Muracciole	....	co-producer
Frederic Ovcaric	....	co-producer
Teddy Percherancier	....	co-producer
Laurent Tolleron	....	producer

Original Music by
Jean-Pierre Taieb

Cinematography by
Laurent Barès

Film Editing by
Carlo Rizzo

Casting by
Michael Laguens

Production Design by
Jérémie Streliski

Art Direction by
Olivier Afonso

Set Decoration by
Alessandro Marvelli

Costume Design by
Eléonore Dominguez

Makeup Department
Nicolas Herlin	....	special makeup effects artist
Laetitia Hillion	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Raphaël Alexandre	....	assistant unit manager
Aryane Ariana	....	production manager
Aryanaz Aryana	....	production manager
Olivier Gravenhorst	....	post-production supervisor
Guillaume Hénon	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Aurelio Cardenas	....	trainee assistant director
Yann Cuinet	....	first assistant director
Rodolphe Guglielmi	....	second unit director
Bourdonnay Judikael	....	first assistant director: second unit
Marie Rolindes	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Jonathan Delerue	....	storyboard artist
Lionel Dijoux	....	construction coordinator

Sound Department
Jérôme Aghion	....	sound
Thomas Bernard	....	sound recordist
Christophe Bourreau	....	foley artist
Lohengrin Braconnier	....	sound recordist
Jean De Sagey	....	sound re-recording mixer
Loïc Gourbe	....	sound recordist
Alexandre Hecker	....	dialogue editor
Florent Lavallée	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jacques Sans	....	sound
Yann Vernier	....	assistant foley artist
Jean-Noël Yven	....	sound

Special Effects by
Guillaume Castagné	....	special effects makeup
Nicolas Herlin	....	special effects makeup
Laetitia Hillion	....	special effects makeup
Frédéric Lainé	....	special effects makeup

Visual Effects by
Hoffmann Alain	....	digital effects artist
Loic Flamand	....	visual effects
Jessica Guglielmi	....	digital effects supervisor
Rodolphe Guglielmi	....	visual effects supervisor
Bourdonnay Judikael	....	visual effects supervisor
Teddy Percherancier	....	visual effects producer

Stunts
Frédéric Vallet	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Mathieu De Montgrand	....	second assistant camera
Yoann de Montgrand	....	camera trainee
Pascale Marin	....	first assistant camera

Editorial Department
Nicolas Economides	....	assistant editor
Jean-Yves Guéril	....	first assistant editor
Vincent Leyour	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Shelley Marie Brown	....	promotions
Ludivine Doazan	....	script supervisor

Thanks
Alexandre Aja	....	sincere thanks
Luc Besson	....	sincere thanks
Jan Kounen	....	sincere thanks

Production Companies

• Cartel Productions
• BR Films
• Europa Corp.
• Pacific Films
• Chemin Vert

Distributors

• EuropaCorp. Distribution (2007-2008) (worldwide) (theatrical)
• EuropaCorp. Distribution (2008) (France) (theatrical)
• After Dark Films (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• Lionsgate (2008) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Tornado Film (2008) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Alfa Films (2008) (Argentina) (all media)
• Future Film (2008) (Finland) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Lionsgate (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Lizard Cinema Trade (2008) (Russia) (all media)
• Madman Entertainment (2008) (Australia) (DVD)
• Optimum Home Entertainment (2008) (UK) (DVD)
• Schmalz-Schneider (2008) (Austria) (DVD) (as Illusions Unltd. Films)
• Sunfilm Entertainment (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2008) (Argentina) (DVD)

Special Effects

• BR Films

Other Companies

• Buzz Factory, The  

Also Known As:

Frontières (France) (working title)
Frontier(s) (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated NC-17 for extreme sadistic graphic violence and gore.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

France | Switzerland

Language:

French | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:NC-17 | UK:18 | France:-16 | Switzerland:18 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-18 | Australia:R | Argentina:18 | Germany:18 (cut) | Germany:18 (SPIO/JK) (cut) | Finland:K-18 (self applied) | Italy:VM18 | New Zealand:R18 | Portugal:M/18

Company:

Cartel Productions

Trivia:

Banned in Thailand for its violence.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the middle of the movie, when Farid escapes to the basement, he hits Karl in the face with a sledgehammer and knocks him down. Then, in the next scene Karl is sitting at the dinner table, with no mark of that stroke on his face.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Yasmine: My name is Yasmine. I'm three months pregnant. One day, someone said "Men are born free with equal rights". The world in which I live is the opposite. Who would want to be born to grow up in the chaos and the hate? I've decided to spare him the worst.

Movie Connections:

References The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Effective flick especially if you know about recent riots in France

It's not often you need an overview of recent European history to fully enjoy a horror movie. But Frontier(s) is a special case. All the negative commentary I've read seems to come from the hype surrounding this film. Is Frontier(s) blood-soaked and violent? Sure is! Is it the bloodiest, most repulsively gory film ever? No. I also agree that the basic plot doesn't really venture too far off the path of Hostel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Motel Hell for that matter. But what some people seem to be missing is socio-political climate of France in the last few years. Well, here's where a short French history lesson may come in handy. In October and November of 2005 there were a series of large-scale riots in France that stemmed from the death of two teenagers who lived in a low-income suburb of Paris. They were suspected of a break-in at a construction site and being chased by police. When they tried to hide in a power substation they were electrocuted. The civil unrest that broke out was fueled by unemployment, religious tensions, racial inequality and a growing fear of police harassment. A little over two years later more riots broke out when two more teenagers died after a police car collided with their stolen motorbike. These recent events give Frontier(s) a healthy dose of sub-text as well as a realistic backdrop for its extreme violence. Fear and intolerance are now right beside baguettes and berets as France's main cultural identity. The France seen in Frontier(s) isn't the glossed up version most of us have dreamily romanticized. There are no midnight walks on the Seine. No sipping of espresso at a sidewalk café with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. No scenic tours of the Louvre or the Arch de Triomphe. Writer/director Xavier Gens shows a modern day France that's dark, violent and in anarchy. This is the France that in 2004 banned the wearing of khimars (headscarves) by Muslim girls at school and in 2007 elected Nicolas Sarkozy — a right-wing conservative — as president. So it should be no surprise that Gens' choice of a Nazi family as the bad guys works as a not so subtle metaphor for the French Government. So, for what it's worth, anyone too myopic to know something about France's current environment probably just won't get what Gens is saying in this film.