It’s often said that everyone has a book in them. Thankfully, most people don’t take up the challenge. Even so, it’s incredibly difficult to get a novel published, let alone make a living out of writing. However, sometimes an author manages to catch the imagination and becomes hot property. E-books and the internet have added an extra dimension to this, which makes theft and piracy a much greater issue. As is the case in The Translators.
Fans around the world are eagerly awaiting the last book in the Dedalus trilogy. The first two books have made a fortune for Angstrom Publishing and its owner, Eric Angstrom (Lambert Wilson), is determined to keep the final instalment under wraps. To ensure its simultaneous worldwide publication, he assembles a group of translators together, keeping them under surveillance and giving them a month to complete their task. When the first ten pages leak online with a ransom demand, he’s up against the clock to unmask the culprit.
The Translators is a tense and clever whodunit with an imaginatively literary theme. Régis Roinsard’s film is full of twists and turns, becoming increasingly tense as time begins to run out. There’s nothing the publisher won’t do to find the perpetrator, which could be any one of the those employed to undertake the endeavour (including the impressive Olga Kurylenko and Alex Lawther). Whilst it does get a little too convoluted for its own good at times, The Translators is a taut and entertaining mystery thriller.
The Translators screens as part of French Film Festival UK.
