Mystère à la Tour Eiffel (2017)

A murder mystery with a queer couple? What more could you want? Turns out, quite a lot... was it worth watching? Probably not.

⋆⋆⋆ // 3 Stars

Director: Léa Fazer

Where to Watch: A lot of people have a hard time finding this movie, however it's actually on Amazon Prime! Search "A Mystery in Paris PBS," scroll, and you'll find a mini series! It's the second "episode", and if you just create a free trial, you'll gain access to it! Google User Rating: 89% liked this!

"You've forgotten the most important thing... diversion." (Louise Massart)

This movie is in French! So get ready to read some subtitles! Unless, of course, you know French.

Quick Synopsis

Louise Massart begins the movie in the arms of her father as they ride the elevator up to the top of the newly built Eiffel Tower in Paris (1889). Her father was one of the engineers of the tower, along with two other people. Louise and her father wait for their friend Charlotte and her husband to come to the top with them, only to find Charlotte's husband (one of the

tower engineers) murdered with his wife kneeling before him. Of course, Charlotte is arrested and a investigation begins. Back at home, Louise's father is distraught, and given a note that reads "tu es le prochain," or "you are next." Louise finds her father dead in middle of the night, and so the investigation turns to her. Before this, Louise's suitor, trying to propose for the tenth time, brings her to a magic show where Louise meets the magician's assistant, Henrietta. They share an intimate moment (they pretty much eye-fuck each other), and then part. Ok, back to the present; Louise learns that someone named Jussaca has been threatening her father and the other engineers, so she decides to go to his house to question him... but he's dead! And oh no, the police are here and she's at the crime scene! Louise, knowing she's about to be sent to an insane asylum considering she's the obvious culprit, goes to Henriette asking for help. Henriette takes her to a LGBT haven of sorts? Not super sure what it is, but we see a shot of a bunch of people making out, anyways Henrietta

begins to dance with Louise (not really the best time considering... her dad and this random dude just died? But alright) and then uh oh! The police raid the building, but not because of Louise and her murder situation, but because of the whole homosexuality is illegal thing. Louise is found and arrested now on TWO charges (whoops) and taken to the insane asylum. A doctor then hypnotizes her, revealing a memory of the death of man, but who is this man? We don't know yet. Using her suitor as an accomplice, she escapes (she sees Charlotte there too, but unfortunately she's just lost it completely) and meets Henriette and said suitor in a carriage (hi Herniette, how did you escape? Who knows! Plot hole, or maybe I'm just dumb) and they escape to go to Louise's father's house (kind of surprised the police didn't have it surveillance or something) to find clues. What do they find? Who is the murderer and what's the motive? Is there a happy ending for Henriette and Louise? Does Henriette really have Louise's best interests in mind?

Official Review

Let's first talk about the movie as a murder mystery. Definitely below average, it's pretty predictable, the twists are kind of bizarre. A lot of the movie is centered around hypnosis, and I can't say I love that. Seems too super natural for me. The ending was kind of

interesting, but overall the whole idea seemed very unrealistic. So just as a murder mystery, I give a solid eh. Romance-wise, the movie was very lack luster and lacking plot and depth. Louise's character was so damn annoying... she plays this very strong headed feminist but also - at the same time - the most awkward gay person you'll ever see. Compared to Henrietta who's a total sex goddess for half the movie, Louise's personality and behaviors seem ridiculous. Her facial expressions are reused over and over again, where as Henrietta is very vibrant and constantly reacting in new ways. Their chemistry was sub-par again, frankly I didn't really care about their relationship anymore, I just wanted to know who "dunnit" and get the movie over with. Which was actually quite easy to do because of the fast paced nature of the film, seriously I felt like I only watched 30 minutes. So credit there, I was never bored. Just unimpressed. But back to what I was saying about the lack of depth, Henrietta said she loved Louise after like... a week? Not super sure, time line was hazy, but girl what? What are you saying, you don't even know her. They were smitten from the beginning, which usually isn't weird, but they were TOO smitten with each other. There was hardly any development besides the whole "no I'm not a

lesbian!"charade. "I'm not like you, Henriette!" says Louise... shut up! Shut up Louise! No one cares at this point... or at least I don't! Henriette just lies down and takes the B.S. and never once questions her love for Louise, even though Louise has shown maybe an ounce of likable personality. Let's talk about another thing. Obviously Henriette is black. She is the ONLY black person you ever see in the movie, and honestly I'm really curious as to why they did that? I'm not kidding, I swear to god there was not a single other black person. If it was colorblind casting despite the time period, why weren't there more black people casted? In fact, Louise even points at this African looking artifact and says something like "is this from your home?" So clearly they're acknowledging her skin color for whatever reason. Makes no sense, it's not colorblind casting since she's the only black person in the film, and yet no one bats an eye at the fact that there is a black person in high(ish) society? Maybe I'm stupid and there was literally no racism in 19th century France. The funniest thing was, Henriette was literally the best actress and character in the movie, so maybe that's why (they just love her as an actress). But they acknowledged homophobia but not racism?? I'm just going to stop talking about it, but this really was the biggest mystery in the movie. I'm not going crazy right? AH! The actress had even spoken out about the lack of diversity in French film, and I'm just sitting here like what?? Point is, should have been more black people if you're going to make one of the biggest characters black. Is it racism? Who knows. I sure as hell don't.

To sum this up, pretty bad murder mystery, worse romance, I gave it a three star rating because all in all, it was pretty entertaining. And Henriette was pretty hot. Also the ending was kind of funny (funny is probably not the best word). Do I recommend it? Maybe if you're a huge murder mystery loving lesbian, but other than that, probably not.

Cast/Heartthrobs

Henriette (Aïssa Maïga) carried this movie. Her performance was pretty good considering

what she was given, her facial expressions as I mentioned were 100x times better than Louis's (Marie Denarnaud). Both women are very beautiful, but Henriette just oozes sex appeal... which is kind of her character, but still! Besides her, the acting was good. Better than good? NO! Just good. There's really not much to say, their costumes were pretty cool? So much was just so average...