''Collision'' (a.k.a. ''Intersections'') is an English-language French romantic thriller film written and directed by American filmmaker

David Marconi David Marconi is an American screenwriter, film producer and film director. His writing credits include the screenplays for '' Enemy of the State'', ''Live Free or Die Hard ''Live Free or Die Hard'' (released as ''Die Hard 4.0'' outside No ...

, produced by

Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French filmmaker. He directed and produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), '' The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Associated with the '' Cinéma du look'' film movement, he h ...

and starring Frank Grillo,

Jaimie Alexander Jaimie Lauren Alexander (née Tarbush; born March 12, 1984) is an American actress. She is known for portraying Jessi on the TV series ''Kyle XY'' and Sif (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Lady Sif in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films ''Thor (film) ...

Roschdy Zem Roschdy Zem (born 27 September 1965) is a French people, French actor and filmmaker of Morocco, Moroccan descent. He shared the award for Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival), Best Actor for his role in the film ''Days of Glory (2006 film), Da ...

Marie-Josée Croze Marie-Josée Croze (; born February 23, 1970) is a Canadian actress. She also holds French nationality, which she obtained in December 2012. Early life Croze was born in Montreal, Quebec, was adopted, and grew up in Longueuil with four other c ...

and

Charlie Bewley Charles Martin Bewley (born 25 January 1981) is an English actor and producer best known for his role as the vampire The Volturi, Demetri in ''The Twilight Saga (film series), The Twilight Saga'' films, Galen Vaughn on ''The Vampire Diaries'' ( ...

. The film was released in France on January 30, 2013.

Plot

Taylor and Scott Dolan (

and Frank Grillo) are on their

honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds after their wedding to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase in a couple ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

where Taylor plots to kill her rich husband with help from her lover, Travis (

). The plan goes awry when all parties are involved in a bloody car accident on a remote desert road. They escape the multi-car pileup at a desert intersection and encounter the group of survivors, including a wanted

smuggler Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

, Omar ( Moussa Maaskri), a French woman, Audrey (

), with a sick baby and Saleh, a mysterious "repairman" (

). They embark on a journey of

deceit Deception is the act of convincing of one or many recipients of untrue information. The person creating the deception knows it to be false while the receiver of the information does not. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deceit ...

and

revelation Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...

that culminates in the

medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

Essaouira Essaouira ( ; ), known until the 1960s as Mogador (, or ), is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marrakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It has 77,966 inhabitants as of 2014. The foundation of the city of Essaouira was the work of t ...

Cast

as Saleh * Frank Grillo as Scott Dolan *

as Taylor Dolan *

as Audrey * Moussa Maaskri as Omar *

as Travis * Affif Ben Badra as Ayub *

Carlos Leal Carlos Leal (born 9 July 1969) is a Swiss rapper and actor. Biography Leal was born in Lausanne, Switzerland to Spanish Galician immigrants. In 1990, he co-founded Sens Unik. The group produced four gold records and contributed music to the ...

as Cyril * Gabriella Wright as Odette

Production

Development

''Collision'' marks David Marconi's return to directing, twenty years after '' The Harvest''. Brooklyn Decker and

Gemma Arterton Gemma Christina Arterton (born 2 February 1986) is a British actress. After her stage debut in Shakespeare's ''Love's Labour's Lost'' at the Globe Theatre (2007), Arterton made her feature-film debut in the comedy '' St Trinian's'' (2007). She p ...

were considered for role of Taylor but lost out to Jaimie Alexander.

Filming

Filming started in February 2012 on location in Merzouga and Essaouira, Morocco and lasted a month and a half, with most of the shooting done in sequence. The film was shot mainly in English, however there is also a substantial amount of Arabic dialogue between Moussa Maaskri and Roschdy Zem's characters as well as a some French dialogue, involving Zem's, Marie-Josée Croze's and Carlos Leal's characters. The key car crash scene was filmed practically, without visual effects, using DSLR cameras in the cars.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Richard Horowitz. The opening sequence tracks are sung by

Sussan Deyhim Sussan Deyhim (; born December 14, 1958) is an Iranian-American composer, vocalist, performance artist, and activist. She is internationally known for her invention of a unique sonic/vocal language. LA Times quotes her as "One of Iran's most pote ...

Release

Initially set for November 2012, the film was eventually released in France on January 30, 2013 in 304 theaters, after a premiere on January 25 at the UGC Ciné-Cité Rosny outside of Paris, attended by Roschy Zem and Marie-Josée Croze. In Belgium the film was released a week later, on February 6, in 15 theaters.

Reception

Box office performance

The film fizzled at the French box-office, debuting at the twelfth spot behind five of that week's other new releases (which included ''

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

'', ''

Silver Linings Playbook ''Silver Linings Playbook'' is a 2012 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by David O. Russell. The film is based on Matthew Quick's 2008 novel '' The Silver Linings Playbook''. It stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawre ...

'', and ''

Seven Psychopaths ''Seven Psychopaths'' is a 2012 satirical crime comedy-drama film directed, written, and co-produced by Martin McDonagh and starring Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, and Christopher Walken, with Tom Waits, Abbie Cornish, Olga ...

'') and making a little over 260,000 euros with an 871 euros per theater average, attracting 52,485 film goers. It fared even worse in its Belgian release where it debuted at the nineteenth spot, behind five of that week's other new releases (which included ''

Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

'' and '' Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters'') and making a little over 26,000 euros with a 1,750 euros per theater average. As of March 3, 2013, ''Intersections'' has made a little over 300,000 euros.

Critical response

The film received an overwhelmingly negative critical response in France. Writing for ''Critikat'', Vincent Avenel calls the script "incoherent", a sentiment echoed by ''Les Fiches du Cinémas François Barge-Prieur. Avenel goes on to call the film "absurd" and "empty", all the while criticizing the abundance of

product placement Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of t ...

and finding Jaimie Alexander's beauty to be the picture's sole saving grace. In ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'',

Jacques Mandelbaum Jacques Mandelbaum (born 1 May 1958, in Neuilly-sur-Seine) is a French journalist and film critic, currently working for the newspaper ''Le Monde'' which he joined in 1995. He is the author of numerous works on the cinema including a biographical ...

says the film a "

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 199 ...

version" of a survival film while in ''Version Femina'', Anne Michelet laments the lack of tension. A rare positive review came from ''Staragora'', which praised the film's numerous twists and flawed characters while stating the film was of the kind "one remembers for weeks after having seen it".

Home media

''Collision'' was released in France on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

in an extended version on May 30, 2013.

References

External links

* {{Luc Besson 2010s romantic thriller films 2013 films Films about road accidents and incidents Films set in Morocco English-language French films EuropaCorp films Films produced by Luc Besson