L'empire des loups (2005)

Director:

Chris Nahon

Writers:

Jean-Christophe Grangé (novel) and
Jean-Christophe Grangé (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

20 April 2005 (Belgium)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

If You Can't Remember Your Past...You Can't Save Your Future.

Plot:

When the young detective Paul Nerteaux finds the third slashed female corpse of illegal Turkish immigrants...

Plot Keywords:

Turkish Mafia | Turkey | Memory Loss | Based On Novel

Cast

Jean Reno	...	Jean-Louis Schiffer
Arly Jover	...	Anna Heymes
Jocelyn Quivrin	...	Paul Nerteaux
Laura Morante	...	Mathilde Urano
Philippe Bas	...	Laurent
David Kammenos	...	Azer
Didier Sauvegrain	...	Dr. Ackerman
Patrick Floersheim	...	Charlier
Etienne Chicot	...	Amien
Albert Dray	...	Le lieutenant
Vernon Dobtcheff	...	Kudseyi
Élodie Navarre	...	La fliquette
Philippe du Janerand	...	Le légiste
Corentin Koskas	...	L'interne
Jean-Pierre Martins	...	Professeur Ravi
Jean-Marc Huber	...	Gurdilek
Donatienne Dupont	...	Clothilde
Jean-Michel Tinivelli	...	Caraccili
Sandra Moreno	...	Marie-Sophie
Laurence Gormezano	...	Chantal
Vincent Grass	...	Marius
Guillaume Lamant	...	Lacroux (as Guillaume Lamant-Deboudt)
Emmanuelle Escourrou	...	Gozar
Akim Colour	...	L'ouvrier
Gérard Touratier	...	Gruss
Aurélie Meriel	...	La secrétaire
Emre Kinay	...	Le policier
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Hoehn	...	(voice)
Arnaud Duléry	...	Un flic médico-légal (uncredited)

Directed by
Chris Nahon

Writing credits
Jean-Christophe Grangé		novel and
Jean-Christophe Grangé		screenplay &
Chris Nahon		screenplay &
Christian Clavier		screenplay &
Franck Ollivier		screenplay
Luc Bossi		(script collaboration)
Simon Michaël		script collaboration

Produced by
Andrew Colton	....	producer
Patrice Ledoux	....	producer
Francesco Pamphili	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Olivia Bouyssou
Luca De' Medici
Grégory Fougères
Dan Levy
Pascal Morel
Samuel Narboni

Cinematography by
Michel Abramowicz

Film Editing by
Marco Cavé

Casting by
Gaëlle Barenton
Juliette Ménager

Production Design by
Guy-Claude François

Set Decoration by
Catherine Jarrier-Prieur

Costume Design by
Olivier Bériot

Makeup Department
Denis Gastou	....	special makeup effects artist
Anne Moralis	....	wig maker
Vittorio Sodano	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Jerome Albertini	....	unit manager
Francis Barrois	....	production manager
Denys Bondon	....	assistant unit manager
Julien Brehier	....	assistant unit manager
Jérôme Chalou	....	production manager
Bertrand Girard	....	assistant production manager
Adam Marchand	....	assistant unit manager
Erhan Ozogul	....	co-production manager
Roxanne Pinheiro	....	unit production manager
Guillaume Sion	....	assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
David Bilowus	....	second assistant director
Marianne Capian	....	second assistant director
Jacques Eberhard	....	first assistant director
Emmanuel Gomes de Araujo	....	third assistant director
Mathieu Hiltzer	....	second assistant director
Laure Prévost	....	first assistant director
Julien Seri	....	second unit director
Ahmet T. Uygun	....	first assistant director: Turkiye

Art Department
Lionel Callari	....	property master
Chloé Cambournac	....	assistant production designer
François Decaux	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Vincent Arnardi	....	sound re-recording mixer
Guillaume Bouchateau	....	supervising sound editor
Yannick Boulot	....	sound recordist
Christophe Bourreau	....	foley artist
Antoine Corbin	....	trainee sound assistant
Pierre Excoffier	....	sound
Michel Filippi	....	adr supervisor
Philippe Lauprete	....	boom operator
Guillaume Leriche	....	assistant sound re-recording mixer
Alexis Place	....	assistant sound editor
Igor Thomas-Gerard	....	dialogue editor
Olivier Varenne	....	boom operator
Yannick Vergne	....	assistant sound editor
Yannick Vergne	....	foley editor

Special Effects by
Grégoire Delage	....	special effects coordinator
Georges Demétrau	....	special effects supervisor
Max Garnier	....	special effects technician
Jérome Miel	....	special effects technician
Charles-Axel Vollard	....	special effects technician

Visual Effects by
Philippe Aubry	....	Inferno artist
David Danesi	....	visual effects supervisor: def2shoot
Sylvian Fabre	....	digital artist
Sylvian Fabre	....	digital compositor
Alex Jadfard	....	digital artist
Michel Kinfoussia	....	digital effects artist
Laurent Larapidie	....	computer graphics artist
Martin Lipmann	....	digital effects artist
Peregrine MacCafferty	....	matchmove supervisor
Christophe Richard	....	compositing supervisor: def2shoot
Haure Sebastien	....	lighting technical director: Def2Shoot
Pènèlope Vandecave	....	digital compositing artist

Stunts
Philippe Guégan	....	stunt coordinator
Gregory Loffredo	....	assistant stunt coordinator
Gregory Loffredo	....	co-fight choreographer
Olivier Schneider	....	assistant stunt coordinator
Olivier Schneider	....	co-fight choreographer

Camera and Electrical Department
Stéphane Azouze	....	video supervisor
Alessandro Brambilla	....	Steadicam operator
Sarah Couvelaire	....	second assistant camera
Roberto De Angelis	....	Steadicam operator
Roberto De Angelis	....	camera operator: "a" camera
Emmanuel de Fleury	....	assistant camera
Laurent Denis	....	still photographer
Pierre Garnier	....	grip
Vincent Muller	....	cinematographer: second unit
Denis Paillieux	....	electrician
Benoît Pain	....	camera loader
Benjamin Speyer	....	grip
Laurent Tangy	....	focus puller
Vincent Tulasne	....	video assistant

Animation Department
Harry Assouline	....	trace assistant

Casting Department
Bertrand Altmann	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sandrine Douat	....	wardrobe assistant
Aline Dupays	....	wardrobe
Fabienne Josserand	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Nicolas Criqui	....	digital conformation
Julie Haddad	....	on-set editor
Yseult Huret	....	assistant editor
Jean-René Nébot	....	digital color timer
Philippe Reinaudo	....	digital intermediate technical director

Music Department
Didier Lozahic	....	music mixer
Sylvain Nguyen	....	music soundtrack producer

Other crew
Nicolas Baldino	....	weapons assistant
Patrick Boshart	....	location scout
Frédéric Cauvy	....	weapons advisor
Emre Cosar	....	production accountant assistant
Nevra Koçoglu	....	co-production coordinator
Philippe Letode	....	location scout
Lisa-Nina Rives	....	assistant script supervisor

Production Companies

• Gaumont (co-production)
• TF1 Films Production (co-production)
• Kairos (co-production)
• Medyavizyon (in association with)
• Sogécinéma 3 (participation)
• Canal+ (participation)

Distributors

• Gaumont (2005) (France) (theatrical)
• Gaumont DVD (2005) (France) (DVD)
• Monopole-Pathé (2005) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Nordisk Film Theatrical Distribution (2006) (Finland) (theatrical)
• On Pictures (2005) (Spain) (theatrical)
• TOBIS Film (2005) (Germany) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Divisa Home Video (2006) (Spain) (DVD)
• Emerald (2008) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Medusa Distribuzione (2005) (Italy) (all media)
• Medyavizyon (2005) (Turkey) (all media)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Universum Film (UFA) (2006) (Germany) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Def2shoot

Also Known As:

Empire of the Wolves (UK) (DVD title) (USA) (DVD title)
El imperio de los lobos (Argentina) (DVD title) (Spain) [es]
Carstvo vukova (Serbia) [sr]
Carstvo vukova (Croatia) [hr]
Das Imperium der Wölfe (Germany) [de]
I aftokratoria ton lykon (Greece) [el]
Kurtlar imparatorlugu (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
L'impero dei lupi (Italy) [it]
Sutten valtakunta (Finland) [fi]
Vargarnas rike (Sweden) [sv]

MPAA:

Rated R for violent content and brief nudity.

Runtime:

France:128 min | Argentina:128 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:16 | USA:R | UK:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-15 | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | France:-12

Filming Locations:

Cappadoccia, Turkey

Company:

Gaumont

Goofs:

Continuity: When Anna gets out of the shower and dresses, her bra is not clipped properly at the back, but when she goes to the door it is now clipped correctly.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Vizontele (2001)

Soundtrack:

Kill Everything

Better than I expected..Considering the reviews

I keep finding myself liking French action movies more than Hollywood films. Not that I hate Hollywood action films. This particular movie is good at one thing. Escapism. Pure escapism. The plot is so so, but the movie is such that almost 2 hours go by and I've hardly noticed.

This movie is much better than The Crimson Rivers 2. Although I love the character in that movie. Jean Reno's beard in this one is a lil off putting. But still great acting nonetheless. Empire of the Wolves (as is the name on the disk.. if you entered that in search in IMDb you'd come up empty handed. ) has great similarities to the first Crimson Rivers. Although there, the camera work was so superiour that there's no comparison. Crimson Rivers 2 is not based on a novel of the first movie. This one is. The score is pretty good. And the female lead did a darn good job with what she was given. I'm not entirely sure why some didn't like the movie, maybe they were expecting Delicatessen or some masterpiece. But hey, up against most of the Hollywood fare, this one trounces them.

7/10

Quality: 4/10 (confusing storyline) Entertainment: 10/10 Replayable: 10/10