Santiago Amigorena made his name as a screenwriter. But the script is the weakest link in his directorial debut, which bundles so much conspiracy theory, melodrama and black comedy into the days before 9/11 that it’s difficult to take much of it seriously.
The unlikely scenario is played with such gusto, however, that the contrivances begin to exert an infectious fascination, and the fate of CIA agent Nick Nolte’s offspring becomes of the utmost importance, as resourceful French spy Juliette Binoche spirits them from Paris to Venice under the nose of poetry-spouting assassin John Turturro, who resembles a Coen caricature.