18 April 2008

Paris, circa 2025. Driving home one evening, high-tech holographic surgeon Professor Brugen (Marthe Keller) and her daughter Manon (Melanie Thierry) are involved in a terrible car accident, which leaves Manon critically injured. Meanwhile, in another part of the city, hard-boiled cop David Hoffman (Albert Dupontel) and his partner and lover, Sarah (Smadi Wolfman), are engaged in a subterranean pitched gun battle with an escaped criminal, a Bulgarian black marketeer named Dimitri Nicolov (Alain Figlarz). The conflict results in a tense Mexican standoff, during which Nicolov brutally murders Sarah before escaping.

His life shattered and now driven only by his need for vengeance, Hoffman is partnered with rookie officer Marie Becker (Marie Guillard), who assists him in his vigilante quest to track down Nicolov. Their joint investigation into Nicolov's current whereabouts uncovers a human trafficking ring and a succession of victims, both dead and alive, all bearing similarly scarred eyelids. Eventually, the trail leads them to Brugen's clinic, where the professor is employing her advanced medical techniques and recovered memory therapies in the recuperative treatment of her injured daughter. But what is the connection between Professor Brugen and Nicolov?

It may not have struck a chord with everyone, but writer-direct Julien Leclercq's stylish debut feature has attracted its share of enthusiastic reviews, being described by Variety as "An impeccably tooled, high-octane sci-fi thrill ride that slathers a cookie-cutter plot with a thick layer of visionary surface cool." Being sold as one of the most stylish and accomplished debut sci-fi movies in recent years, Leclercq's visionary representation of a near-future Paris is as impressive and believable as it is chilling. A gripping thriller with cyber-punk undertones, Chrysalis also features several explosive, close-combat fight sequences designed by celebrated stunt co-ordinator Alain Figlarz (The Bourne Identity), who also stars as Nicolov, the ruthless villain at the centre of the film's mystery.

Chrysalis has been announced for a 9th June 2008 release on UK DVD by Momentum Pictures at the RRP of £15.99. Special features – all to be confirmed – should include a 'making of' featurette, storyboards and a trailer.