Metacritic reviews

Lucas Belvaux's Rapt is two movies, both excellent, for the price of one.

The issues come clashing together in an explosive package that, despite some snafus, remains fairly riveting to the end.

While the back-and-forth between various parties grows tiresome through repetition, Rapt rallies with a lengthy epilogue in which the aftermath of Attal's ordeal proves more draining than the physical privation that preceded it.

Progressing with a coldly observational pace, Rapt often strains its drawn-out structure, creating a lethargic experience despite essentially taking the form of a Bressonian suspense-thriller.

Compellingly taut and existentially thoughtful, this exceptional Euro-American hybrid is perfectly pitched for the kind of crossover success previously enjoyed by Guillaume Canet's 2006 surprise hit "Tell No One."

Yvan Attal and Anne Consigny give understated but powerful performances as Graff and his wife, Françoise. Although a bit too long, Rapt makes for compelling viewing.

A solid yet fleet French thriller about a society kidnapping and its shockwaves.

It presents itself in a sleek suit and tie, carrying itself from the moment it enters the room with a steadfast gait that suggests there's no dotted line it can't get us to agree to sign.

Belvaux's tension-building setup is stellar; the follow-through, less so.

The growing disgust of both his family and business associates, all hazily drawn, may knock the magnate down, but it's a limp substitute for the public fury that still burns after the fall of 2008.