The film is leading the way in France, Belgium and Brazil. In six days of broadcast, it accumulated 17.1 million views, 28 million hours of viewing! Less than a week after its launch on Netflix (January 10), To Lifewith Guillaume Canet, breaks the house. As one of the heroes of this film on steroids would say, “we just did our duty, period!” »
But what is really worth To Life who, faced with his triumph, adds up the negative criticism at the same time? 20 Minutes wanted to get to the bottom of it and watched it… but without enjoying it.
Guillaume Canet will have given everything
98 minutes of action, or almost. To Lifeit’s the story of Franck Lazarev, a member of the GIGN for ten years, and his partner Leo (met in his elite unit) who is expecting a child soon. And the story of a blunder which will cause Franck the worst worries. While he holds evidence that implicates a few dignitaries, some would prefer to see Franck dead rather than a happy dad…
Guillaume Canet will therefore have given everything. With To Lifethe actor will have co-written, co-produced, performed and carried out an all-out promotion of the last blockbuster national Netflix. Often thinking of himself as Tom Cruise… Canet rappels down along the Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur; runs breathlessly across the rooftops of Paris; ride at full speed on a motorcycle in the Rambouillet forest; flies over the grounds of the Château de Versailles on an electric paramotor… And partly performs his stunts alone. “It took me a long time to accept this kind of role,” the actor often declared on TV sets, too complacent once the actor had gone there.
Our articles on “GIGN”
However, he who we are often used to seeing as a wounded man and skinned alive, assumes this role perfectly and proves credible in the guise of this member of the GIGN for whom a mission has gone wrong. The couple he also forms with the actress Stéphane Caillard (who knows a lot about fighting here, in addition to having a round stomach) works rather well.
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What remains is the often caricatured story with its villains necessarily with Eastern accents, and its staging which lacks breath (with its long flashback sequence notably filmed on the real places where the GIGN trains).
The soft underbelly of films of the genre
With its chronological construction which sometimes walks on only one leg, its escalation of stunts and a final bouquet which we do not really know whether to be amazed or to laugh at, To Life will disappoint lovers of solid plots. Likewise, the dialogues; regularly pruned with a billhook, are very weak.
By wanting to add all the ingredients to please as many people as possible, To Life ends up dissolving in the soft underbelly of the streaming platform’s all-purpose productions. Result, in addition to press reviews which remain (very) mixed, To Life also gets gutted on the networks…
Extremely demonstrative, sluggish, sometimes overplayed, with telephonic sequences, the film directed by Rodolphe Lauga (who had already worked hand in hand with Guillaume Canet on We will end up together) frankly struggles to convince. In any case, Netflix will have succeeded in transforming what could have been yet another TV film for TNT into a blockbuster international to stream. It can also be viewed without displeasure. But without real pleasure.
