article: A TON IMAGE

by David Blackwell

A Ton Image stars Christopher Lambert, Nastassja Kinski, and Audrey DeWilder in this thriller about cloning from the human perspective. They started casting the role of Manon early as they looked through Europe for the perfect teenage girl to play the role of the mother's clone that is her child. The movie is based on the novel by Louise L Lambrichs. The real consequences of cloning is what attracted director Aruna Villiers to do an adaptation of the novel. The movie is produced by Luc Besson through Europa Corp.

"Christophe manages to realize Thomas in all his complexity, his paradoxes and his emotions," Aruna comments on how Christopher Lambert played Thomas. Christopher made the movie because "Two elements really gave me desire for making this film: the scenario, surprising, which play with our nerves while awaking our conscience, and the role of Thomas, who corresponded to the kind of character that I had desire for playing."

"For me, Thomas is a man sincere and in love who, for that which he likes, will try the impossible one. All is there. To try the impossible one. Because he wanted that all is perfect, he all will waste and will pay it. He is alone to carry its secrecy, he is the first to be had a presentiment of what is played, he will see the catastrophe coming before everyone," Chistopher says about Thomas, "Thomas made a mistake, but he did it for

love. I liked the sincerity of this man."

The trailer of the movie starts with Thomas and Mathilde meeting and falling in love, then it flashes to them going to see a doctor because Mathilde(who is sterile) wants a baby and a procedure makes it possible to carry a clone of herself. The baby is born and all seems normal for a while. The trailer turns into a thriller from then on as you see something is wrong with Manon (the daughter/clone) when she hits her teenage years.

A Ton Image has a fascinating website where you can view the site from the mother (http://www.atonimage-lefilm.com/index-mere.html ) and from the clone (http://www.atonimage-lefilm.com/index-clone.htm l). The question is when A TON IMAGE will be released in the USA. Will it get a theatrical release or be doomed to the cable TV/direct to video markets.

Early reviews on this 89 minute movie has been from average to bad. Variety says "A dynamite premise fails to fully ignite in "In Your Image," the story of a couple whose desire for a child leads into shaky ethical territory." and "Plot parallels with recent "Godsend" may be a liability." Further, the Variety review says Audrey DeWilder is "A newcomer to watch, Dewilder is very good as the vixen-despite-herself, tortured by the unforeseen consequences of breaking natural laws."

this article (3.49) is (c)7-9-2004 David Blackwell. This article features text translated from articles at http://cinema.lycos.fr  and the lycos.fr text was translated through Google and freetranslation.com All translated text is used for the purpose of this article, and some words have been changed to make the English translations make more sense. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com  and look for additional content (and site updates) at http://www.livejournal.com/users/enterlinemedia