I have a special interest in movies about memory, amnesia, and so on, so I have to say I am intrigued by Variety critic Jay Weissberg’s review of the French film Cortex:
A high-ranking retired cop with Alzheimer’s suspects there’s a killer loose in his nursing home in Nicolas Boukhrief’s unusual, cerebral thriller “Cortex.” In “Memento,” the protag’s brain is wiped clean every few minutes; here, the detective’s senility floats in and out, leaving auds guessing whether he’s deliberately fooling the staff or simply heading swiftly toward oblivion. Fascinating concept is occasionally crowded out by unnecessary characters, though Andre Dussollier’s complex performance keeps sympathy in the plus column. Late January opening in France has seen modest returns.
Dussollier plays Charles Boyer — a detective, not the star of yesteryear — who knows his memory is deteriorating and doesn’t object to moving into “the Residence.” The surprise death of a patient puts Charles back in investigator mode, though the staff assures him it was a natural death. But when fellow resident Carole (Marthe Keller, reuniting with Dussollier 34 years after Claude Lelouch’s “And Now My Love”) follows suit after a night together with Charles, he’s convinced nature isn’t to blame.
Part of pic’s cleverness is that auds don’t know if Charles is simply suffering from Alzheimer’s-related dementia or if he’s really on to something. The staffers are certainly a grumbly bunch, caught up in their own petty jealousies, but only at the finale is it clear whether someone’s really offing the residents. . . .
It sounds like the film has its share of flaws, but hey, the concept is so interesting, I’d be willing to give it a look.
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