A first successful collaboration. Friday January 10, 2025, Netflix offered its subscribers a new thriller: “Ad Vitam”. Directed by Frenchman Rodolphe Lauga (“Je te toi moi non plus”, “Lovers situation: it’s complicated”), the film which stars Guillaume Canet (also co-writer) is off to a flamboyant start on the platform. 24 hours after its release, it was already at the top of the charts in more than 38 countries around the world, including France obviously, but also Belgium, Italy and South Africa. A success which spread to 69 countries after 48 hours of visibility according to Flixpatrol data. The feature film is now also at the top of the most viewed films in the United States, Hong Kong and Germany.
A former GIGN member sees the ghosts of the past resurface
In this supercharged thriller which marks the first collaboration between Guillaume Canet and Netflix, the actor plays Franck Lazarev, a former member of GIGN launched into a race against time to save his 8-month pregnant wife, kidnapped by mysterious kidnappers . The ex-policeman will quickly realize that what is happening to him has a link with his past, and that this affair concerns the highest levels of the State. In the cast of “Ad Vitam”, we find Nassim Lyes, already starring in the hit of the year 2024 on the platform, “Sous la Seine”, as well as Stéphane Caillard (“Flo”), Zita Hanrot (“ Heart Plan”, “School Life”) and Alexis Manenti (“Les Misérables”, “A Devoted Friend”).
READ ALSO: Netflix: What should we expect from “Ad Vitam”, a nervous French thriller led by Guillaume Canet?
-A demanding shoot for Guillaume Canet, who explained to 'Allociné' that he carried out the stunts himself. “I went to work at GIGN to prepare the rappelling sequences, it was something I had never done before and I had to confront my fear of heights. A real trauma for me… (…) I was taught to disconnect my brain to eliminate fear and only be in action. I found it enjoyable and fascinating“. At the start of the 1h35 film, we see him falling more than 80 meters from the Campanile of the Sacré-Cœur. In addition to that, the actor benefited from intensive preparation with a coach, Dènis Joukov , former weightlifting champion.Weight training, boxing, cardio, etc: Dènis gave me misery every day for 3 months!“, confided the actor to our colleagues.
So how far will “Ad Vitam” go? Will he be able to match the phenomenal scores achieved by the gripping thriller “Carry-on”, a Christmas hit on the platform? Response in a few days, and from Wednesday to find out last week's audiences on the streaming giant.
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