Requiem for a Killer

2011

1h 31m

Mystery & Thriller

List

0%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

23%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Lucrèce, the best assassin in the business, is hired to kill an opera singer. The killer poses as a soprano in order to get to her target, but things do not go as planned.

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

Mlanie Laurent glides with L'Oral serenity through this entirely terrible film as Lucrce, an ice-cold assassin.

Rated: 1/5

Jun 14, 2012

Full Review

Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph (UK)

[A] startlingly ludicrous hit-girl thriller, in which Mlanie Laurent must go undercover as an opera singer to off a fellow soloist.

Rated: 1/5

Jun 14, 2012

Full Review

Bethany Rutter

Little White Lies

Lazy and futile.

Rated: 1/5

Jun 14, 2012

Full Review

Shaun Munro

CineVue

Jérôme Le Gris' film -- sumptuously shot though it is -- lazily rehashes previous girl-with-a-gun narratives.

Rated: 2/5

Jan 10, 2019

Full Review

Tom Dawson

Total Film

Writer-director's Jerome Le Gris' sub-Hitchcockian thriller piles up the genre clichs to the point where you assume the whole enterprise must be an Agatha Christie-style parody.

Rated: 2/5

Jun 21, 2012

Full Review

Philip French

Observer (UK)

A precocious French schoolboy's idea of sophistication, the film is as deep and as brittle as a coating of glossy nail varnish.

Jun 17, 2012

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Audience Member

Avec Mélanie Laurent ça passe.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Me gusto y eso que la verdad no esperaba nada bueno de ella. Lo mejor fuela estetica de toda la pelicula estuvo impecable. Los actores le ponian un buen caracter y la conclucion cerro muy bien.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Melanie Laurent is the only aspect that flies a little in this movie, with just a middle-low level.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A part que Ã§a tient pas du tout debout, c'est pas affreux.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Du sous Nikita joué par Mélanie Laurent...ça manque terriblement de crédibilité...

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Requiem for a Killer is the story of a female assassin. In a way the easy comparison is with the excellent Hanna which came out earlier this year. However, Hanna is a far superior piece of work with an interesting backstory and a unique protagonist. Requiem fails on both counts. Melanie Laurent plays Lucrèce, our contract killer slash operatic soprano. She can break your heart with her angelic voice and stop it with poisoned wine. It's all very ridiculous. The film plays its story with earnest, however, deadly serious in allowing the agent in pursuit of her - on her final killing before retirement of course - to play guitar in the orchestra she's sent to as her cover. We're in Switzerland and everybody seems to be watching everyone else. The killer, the spy, the secret agent, the handler, the other killer. Behind it all is the evil BRITISH OIL who want to build a pipeline through the Scottish land of the lead singer in the upcoming opera. Moments that need to be shocking arrive impressively out of nowhere. It's very difficult not to believe that you're watching an incredibly subtle send up of the entire genre. Even though you aren't, the film still works as somewhat of a pastiche of spy games and assassination plots. At moments it's downright hilarious. It's also very watchable in a popcorn kind of way. Laurent is as beautiful as the Swiss landscapes and a few of the individual scenes are undeniably enjoyable with a few pinches of salt more than usual. The film's opening deserves a mention for it's absurdity if nothing else. One moment we see Lucrèce doing her singing, then she's watching her daughter's violin performance, the next moment she's releasing some cats in a church (for a ludicrously chance role in our introductory killing) and sabotaging the sacramental wafers. Meanwhile her handler is watching via CCTV and eating some lemons. The British Oil story feels tacked on, unnecessarily book ending the film without providing enough to make the story any more believable. It does however lead to the film's best line - spoken in English; "You have carte blanche, Reverend, whatever it costs. Provided of course that Alexander Child's death passes as an accident." Very subtle. And yes, that's the terrible Reverend who organises all the big contract killings in Central Europe. There are all the usual clichés to go with the one-last-job story; the secrets the handler has of the assassin's past, the shadowy businessmen, the innocent and unwitting bystander, and so on. Requime pour une tueuse is certainly not a great film, but it is worth it for Laurent alone and for the quick demise of the mentally-handicapped gardener. Just try not to laugh too much. Or maybe that's the point.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

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Jérôme Le Gris

Director

Mélanie Laurent

Lucrèce

Clovis Cornillac

Rico

Tchéky Karyo

l'Arménien

Xavier Gallais

Xavier de Ferrières

Corrado Invernizzi

Vittorio Biamonte

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Synopsis

Lucrèce, the best assassin in the business, is hired to kill an opera singer. The killer poses as a soprano in order to get to her target, but things do not go as planned.

Director: Jérôme Le Gris
Screenwriter: Jérôme Le Gris
Production Co: Canal+, France 2 Cinéma, CinéCinéma, StudioCanal, Banque Postale Image 4, Alter Films, Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, France Télévision
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: French (France)
Runtime: 1h 31m