We know that both Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard are hugely talented actors and we also know that in real life they have been in a relationship since 2007 and have a child together, but seeing them in Le dernier vol it is difficult to believe either of the above statements. It is also difficult to engage in the film as the only positive is the cinematography. Apparently a true story, it is set in 1933 yet there is absolutely no sense of period and certainly no period 'feel'. The early thirties was a time when aviators were still attempting new records even six years after Lindbergh's solo Atlantic crossing. We enter the film when a pilot (who we never see) has crashed his plane in the desert in North Africa and has been missing for five days. His long-time mistress and fellow pilot (Marion Cotillard) is searching for him and attempts to get help from a detachment of the French army, themselves about to wage war on rebel tribesman. Essentially we have an uneasy merge of 'quest' movie and Boy's Own Paper conflict between the martinet commander and the peace-loving officer who has spent years winning the trust of the tribesman. To describe it as a disaster is to err on the side of kindness.
Review of The Last Flight
