Name: The Translators
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Released: 2019-12-20T00:00:00+00:00
Cast: Olga Kurylenko, Lambert Wilson, Manolis Mavromatakis, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Alex Lawther

The opening shot of The Translators is a stark one: nine translators, each absorbed in their work, confined within the sleek, sterile walls of a luxurious bunker. This image sets the stage for Régis Roinsard’s 2019 Franco-Belgian mystery thriller, a film that attempts to blend Agatha Christie-style intrigue with the claustrophobic tension of modern thrillers.

At its core, The Translators is a tale of isolation and betrayal. Nine linguists, tasked with translating the final installment of a bestselling trilogy, find themselves trapped in a high-tech bunker under the watchful eye of Éric Angstrom (Lambert Wilson), the narcissistic publisher managing the project. The premise is intriguing, drawing inspiration from the real-life simultaneous translators of Dan Brown’s Inferno. However, the film struggles to fully immerse its audience in its world. Book translation does not naturally lend itself to cloak-and-dagger machinations, and the film’s efforts to inject suspense into this scenario sometimes feel forced.

What works best about The Translators is its ensemble cast. Lambert Wilson delivers a standout performance as Éric Angstrom, embodying the publisher’s smug arrogance and desperation with relish. His scenes are the most compelling, particularly when he turns on his own translators, accusing them of leaking the manuscript. Alex Lawther also shines as Alex Goodman, the English translator whose flashbacks reveal a deeper plot involving the true identity of the bestselling author Oscar Brach.

The film’s structure, alternating between the present-day bunker drama and flashbacks to the translators’ past actions, adds a layer of complexity. However, this narrative device also becomes one of the film’s weaknesses. The frequent cuts to flashbacks disrupt the momentum of the main story, making it difficult to maintain tension. Additionally, the pacing is uneven, with some scenes lingering too long on mundane details while others rush through crucial developments.

Visually, The Translators is polished and sleek, with Roinsard utilizing the confined space of the bunker to create a sense of unease. The sound design also deserves mention, particularly the eerie silence that fills the bunker when the power goes out, amplifying the paranoia among the translators.

Despite its flaws, The Translators offers an unexpected twist in its conclusion. The revelation of Goodman’s true identity and his motives for infiltrating the translation project adds a layer of depth to the story. However, this twist feels somewhat tacked on, as it is not sufficiently foreshadowed or developed throughout the film.

In the end, The Translators is a film that strives for intrigue but falls short due to its uneven pacing and lack of immersion in its central premise.