For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Admirable film.

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Ferrara is an interesting author who has always cared more for editorial freedom than to commercial success, the Hollywood fame and popularity. Formed as an independent author in the twilight of the New Hollywood, Ferrara has made a number of films on different issues, from twisted comedy, through the mob, Catholic mysticism and vampirism, to obscure the horror and science fiction films. Art tells its own story. The artist has an obligation to be fair, or even decent. Ferrara is wiser than that to go on a cheap provocation and risks a lawsuit for damage to reputation, and in his case Strauss- Khan became Devereaux (Depardieu), and his wife Anne Sinclair became Simone (Bisset). The film, the most accurate way, deals with the distortion of reality in the world of the rich and powerful.

Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculous mus (The mountain gave birth to a small mouse).S-K. incident could have indeed given many hints to be pursued in making a decent movie: the interests of the rich and the influent colliding with justice, the sexual dependence of a mature man vs his family, or again loneliness and decadence in modern days. However, the director chose to follow them all at the same time, resulting in nothing more of a collection of sketches, causing the audience some annoyance, not to mention some impatience for the plot to recollect the various topics. Sadly, such hope is to remain unattained, and the movie remains an exhausting prologue of a story we will never see. The lack of pathos or sympathy for any of the characters or stories don't help. One may advocate Brecht's disenchantment of the epic theater, but one would seriously doubt that this was the case.

Is that the best actor in France? Really? Can some surgeon put him out of his misery? This was awful. Ferrara forgot to hire writers. The acting is pathetic. Dialogues wouldn't even make an episode of a 1980's cop show. I feel sorry for French people that this was presented to the world at the Cannes Festival.Depardieu is a sick man, it's become obvious he needs help. Besides his physical appearance, for a man who was beautiful 20 years ago, there is the problem of his acting, and what emotions he conveys. There is none. He has zero charisma left. He's lost his mojo somewhere in the 1990s. I think Louis CK would have done a better job. Heck, I think Schwarzenegger would have done a better job.

A fascinating and uncompromising insight into the life of a man. Ferrara signs here one of its best ever movie and Depardieu reveals once again the full extent of his talent.The fall of the mighty sick of his sexual impulses (the film spares neither sex scenes priced nor the brutal attempts to put a woman in bed). The case itself and its judicial suites are underdeveloped. Abel Ferrara is particularly interested in conversations between the Devereaux couple (Depardieu and Jacqueline Bisset) in the famous New York apartment where he was under house arrest, the ones everyone has imagined but never heard.A great movie.