A Perfect Enemy (2020) User Reviews

No matter where you go, you can't escape yourself

[aarpcats · 6/10 · 4 December 2021]

Have you ever seen a movie or television show where the characters suddenly act oddly, only to realize that you are watching a dream sequence?

I started the movie filled with questions about the odd behavior of the two principal characters. What very successful architect misses an important flight to give a young woman a ride? Why would two Europeans spend hours talking in clunky English rather than reverting to German or French? Why would the man waste his time on an odd and talk talk talky girl. Why does the director keep showing shots of the airport schematic? Who is the young woman and why does she want to kill?

Then the movie gave me the answers. Liars dream up stories because they don't like the truth. If they tell the lies long enough, then it REPLACES their truth. But it is still a lie.

The movie is interesting, but the characters are so unlikable and the pacing so uneven that it's a chore to get to the end.

Guily conscience Haunts after 20 years

[revribhav-96772 · 6/10 · 2 July 2021]

It is a psychological drama, a sexually frustrated architect who killed his wife 20 years ago and dumped her body in construction site at the airport returns to Paris. Twenty years seem to have brought him fame and recognition ; however, his guilty conscience gives birth to a teenage girl, it is not clear whether she exists in his fantasy alone or is a real woman but her cryptic stories that start with a delayed flight pull him back to school days and thereafter of jealousy, greed and hunger to succeed.

Our protagonist initially resists hearing the stories from his fantasy daughter had he not killed his wife; he eventually manages to dump her alive in the same material that was used to bury his wife's body.

Those who understand the human psychology of murderers, white collar criminals shall find this movie based on a novel interesting; it is not perfect but successfully presents a limited picture of reality blurred into fantasy.

The blood stain on the model of the airport is symbolic of the fact that stigma of the crime remains indelible whether the criminal is smart or not.

Mind games

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 1 October 2021]

The movie makes you think and try to figure out what is going on the whole time. I reckon you can guess certain things ... way before the main character has figured them out for sure. But the main thing about this, the journey is the thing that will be interesting and worth going along with.

There are clues for certain things and I would say one of them is quite early on ... between the lines one might say, without giving away too much. There are other things that may be interesting to see a second time around, because the way they play out seem improbable.

All that said, I really liked the movie. I was taken a bit back by the accents and sometimes lack of emotion that was unable to create. Still there is much tension here and a lot of things to cheer or hate this for. Like towards the end being completely against what the main character does ... "going back" of sorts ... turns out it was the "right" thing to do ... well there are some puns for you.

Understood it and hated it

[chris-j-chuba · 1/10 · 7 December 2021]

For some reason, there are people who insist that if you don't like something they like it means you don't understand it. To prove that I understood this movie ....

* * * Spoilers follow * * * The girl represents his guilty conscience for killing his wife 20yrs ago.

She appears now because his wife was pregnant, so his guilt conjures up the daughter that would have been. The fight scene in the airplane toilet determines whether he is going to let his guilt consume him or if he will overcome it.

* * * double spoiler * * * He wins. I'm on the fence as to whether this means that he forgives himself or has now a total sociopath because at this point I no longer care.

Did I pass the test?

I just did not like this movie because I did not like either of the two main characters. If you did that is fine.

an exclusively illusive story...

[ops-52535 · 7/10 · 11 June 2021]

With the brand''x'' stamped in the forehead. Its a well hidden story about a childhood misery, a lovestory and a tale about a murder. Its very well conducted, filmed and acted at all levels, in a typical european way of cloaking a plot.so if you havent read the book it has its surprising twists. So its a recommend from the ever so grumpy old man.

Cheap, absurd, melodrama...

[tccandler · 2/10 · 7 August 2021]

I was sucked in by a misleading trailer. I thought I would be watching a slick European thriller... Instead, I was treated to a cheap, poorly-acted, melodrama with some of the most absurd twists and turns imaginable. Everything about this hideous movie feels amateurish.

A fine film

[I_should_be_reading_a_book · 6/10 · 6 July 2021]

When I was young, many decades ago, a common saying among my college buddies was "the difference between a film and a movie is that you go to a movie for entertainment..."; this "film" is not.

Do not believe the sell phrase "Psychological thriller", if anything it is not is a thriller; nevertheless it is a very good psychological drama. The pacing is painfully slow, the characters hateful, wowever, you get hooked in the first ten minutes or so and then, *you just want it to get to the end*.

Please, do not let my above comments deter you from watching it. It is an indie, yes, but extremely well made. Cinematography is upper echelon, acting absolutely believable, zero cliches nor cardboard figures. Direction is impeccable, edition and photography too. Ambience absolutely real.

Pacing, it seems like it goes in real time (it's that slow) but you don't mind, you will just want the plot to reveal its secrets; that however won't happen until the last five minutes and then, guess what? It is (spoiler) open ended.

Oh, the other difference between a movie and a film is that the latter you get out of the theater without understanding what really happened.

seriously?

[WankerReviews · 3/10 · 12 June 2021]

Felt like i wasted my time. The whole ''its all in your head'' nonsense made the story 10 times less interesting and painful to sit through last 20 minutes.

It was actually good

[kanenasanonas · 7/10 · 13 December 2021]

So, here we go again: if IMDB had an option to hide the current rating of a film, i would gladly check it and never see any rating again. This film deserves so much more.

It was good, suspenceful and well written. Ok, you may identify the "twist" early in the film, but... you don't expect the ending.

Kudos.

Laughbaly AWFUL!!

[AA-Jay · 1/10 · 13 June 2021]

This movie is a no brainier because if you use your brain to watch it you'll be left with nothing.. I MISS THE 90s/Early2000s era. This movie is everything wrong with modern day film making, the makers have no relevance to something called REALITY!!

People giving low score to this one deserves only fast and furious sequels the rest of their lives

[manuellopezosornio · 10/10 · 18 June 2021]

How can you give low score to this one? You didn't like it? It's fine, but at least this is 7th art, no another quick buck grab. I was afraid of the "mental" plot twist too, but I though the very end made it perfect. And the movie was all about the path, not the end. The narrative, the pace, the mistery. Was really entertaining, kept me in a good mood all the way.

Awesome surprise psychological, mystery thriller!

[jkt2006 · 7/10 · 13 June 2021]

I was intrigued by the trailer and marked it in my watchlist. Lately so many movies have been turning out to be promising in trailers but a total dud when you are like just 20 minutes into it. This one turned out to be better than the trailer and actually made me sit tight and watch till the very last frame. It's not slow to call it a slow burn but the first 10 mins instil enough curiosity to want to watch further. And yes, the good element of what next continues to pay off every 10 mins as this girl who wouldn't stop talking frustrates the hell out of you as you root for the lead male character. Well, won't spoil anything for you. Just watch it with an open mind and that you are watching an awesomely high on quality a flick, that's all is what you should remember and it pays off awesomely! I loved it.

Pretentious and predictable

[filled_94 · 3/10 · 24 June 2021]

It's hard to tell what's wrong with this film. It has drama and twists, acting is a bit subpar but not to the point of ruining the film. The reality sort of melts away as we go, but it's always predictable, as if you can make this up as you are going along and make it better. In ways, the film tries way too hard and veers past the point of being pretentious. In the end, just like the accent of the main actor, becomes unpalatable, unbearable and unwatchable.

No!

[rmmil · 1/10 · 13 December 2021]

No.

This isn't how mental illness works.

People don't literally see characters they have film-quality hallucinations of.

Hollywood, Bollywood, whatever China's market is called: Please stop the "so crazy they see people" movie troupe.

A very tired and lazy way to create mystery where there is none.

Ok Psychological thriller but meaningless ending

[t2do2dl2da · 6/10 · 30 December 2021]

The movie is ok. Watchable.

The plot was ok. Kind of predictable but not poorly executed.

The problem for me was the ending. Why did all this happen in the first place, if it all amounted to nothing.

Annoying film!

[kwihui · 4/10 · 4 November 2021]

First the girl- I would never have allowed some girl in the rain or not to enter into my cab!

Then further annoying him with her constant crazy chattering! Following him etc.

I knew what was going on by this time, the bathroom events, surely told what was happening. The guilt! Manifestations in his head all seemingly real but not!

In conclusion, if one can stand through the girl's pesky following and constant unwanted chattering and stories, this film is for You!

Otherwise, I do not recommend this film to anyone!

Annoying! Avoid watching it if you've got anxieties about someone being very pesky, especially a stranger!

Interesting but crap ending

[midtownwarriors · 6/10 · 6 November 2021]

Here goes, leads you in well with good dialogue and storytelling, but the worst sort of cop out ending, "it's all a dream," happens, which ruins it.

You can pretty much guess very early what happened, which isn't the problem. But Tesla, though charming and played well, her character is just a figment of Jeremias conscious and imagination. Pretty weak, right? So yeah, it fell flat pretty soon after that realization.

High concept...

[mdscarpiello · 3/10 · 22 June 2021]

But it just takes too long for the payoff and at that point you're just frustrated.

HITCHER or SLEUTH in an airport.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 6/10 · 19 July 2022]

From the start, this female pain in the ass annoyed, harrassed, disturbed me. I would not have had one tenth of the patience of this man. And, believe it or not, I like helping people. From the beginning, I rightaway was thrown into this story, an unusual one for sure which you are litterally stuck to. A psychological thriller but the comparison with Jo Mankiewicz's SLEUTH or Robert Harmon's HITCHER is maybe not that fair, because this one is truly disturbing, twisted. If you like surprises, that movie is definitely for you. Also Brian De Palma could have done it, with many different directing methods, but the subject is for him. If any one among you wonders why I speak of HITCHER, the female character' purpose reminds me Rutger Hauer's one. However this feature is too complex for me who is too much cartesian.

Only watch this if you're bored

[syrusxl · 1/10 · 13 June 2021]

I have watched many movies lately, however, this one is a league of its own. I gave it one star, because I couldn't go any lower.

In the first 15 minutes you are shown the main two areas of the movie, a conference room and an airport lounge. This movie states it is an action movie, I must have blinked because I seen no action at all.

It is very slow, and many scenes could have been edited out, because they were not required.

If I had to choose the genres this should be under, I would have said "Drama" and "Crime", not any of the others.

Quality Film as it Should Be

[pealrocker · 8/10 · 12 June 2021]

2020 and 2021 has been really hard on me as a movie lover with few films and fewer ones with quality or fresh plot. But this one comes as fresh air. The quality is good and portrays perfect balance between mystery thriller and psychological aspects. It's not a jumping off the skyscraper with a racing car film, It's a slow paced and based on intellectual dialogues. Though it is slow, I never felt a boring moment and was edger to see what happens next. And yes the logic of it for some part has plot holes or just hard to explain and might be predictable at times, but it's a quality work and deserves credit.

Good concept and screenplay..!!

[kamalbeeee · 7/10 · 25 July 2021]

A successful architect who lost his wife recently..one day he met a girl in paris airport and he faced lot of shocking moments.. This movie looks like murder mystery concept but this concept is different... Buy easily guess the climax and concept.. Must watch movie..!!

Meh

[nch-35770 · 4/10 · 5 July 2021]

I mean the acting was okay but the storyline and 'twists'.... I wouldn't bother watching it.

A bit of a pointless movie.

A stupid movie for stupid people.

[developmentczar · 1/10 · 10 July 2021]

This was painfully awful. There is nothing positive to say about this film. The writers and director of this terrible 'film' should go back to their day jobs, because filmmaking does not agree with them OR us.

Speechless

[ganbadeh · 30 June 2021]

A story about a man who have a dark secret.

Well, the 90% of the story just show you he keep talking to a "girl", a "stranger". And actually he suffering in the past for 20 years, and no one know his secret, blah blah blah... only that "girl" know his secret. At the end, when I know what's going on, I just speechless cause what we saw in the whole movie , actually nothing happen but only his own imagination to show how he suffering in his past, end up nothing change, he keep living as a normal people with his dark secret.

Mmm.... Okay. Don't waste your time to watch this movie, except you're really free during this pandemic.