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Review

Late at night, Jacques Sauniere, the curator of the Louvre, runs down deserted halls of the empty museum, pursued by an albino monk. The monk is armed with a gun and the belief that he is an angel in God’s service. Cornered, Sauniere is asked for the location of an object. He answers, and is gut shot. The monk leaves to continue his quest; but Sauniere manages before he dies to arrange himself into a puzzle with signs and codes and oblique references. Robert Langdon (Hanks), an American academic who is in Paris to lecture on the history of the Sacred Feminine, is called to the crime scene by Police Captain Fache (Reno), ostensibly to examine the symbology Sauniere left behind. Another police officer, Sophie Neveu (Tautou), arrives at the museum, saying she was sent by her department. As it happens, Fache is a member of Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic organization; Sophie is Sauniere’s granddaughter and was not sent by her job; and Fache has been led to believe that Langdon is Sauniere’s murderer.

Thus begins this intricate mystery/thriller, beautifully photographed, crisply paced (important, given its run time) and executed with intelligence and an obvious respect for its source material. The controversial book by Dan Brown is well-translated to the screen, necessarily pared down by time constraints but keeping the essential elements of the story. Director Howard leads the viewer through densely-packed pictorial, mathematical and verbal information, through religious and philosophical discussions that span continents and millennia. Yet the consummate ensemble also speaks volumes with small gestures and sidelong glances. Hanks, as usual, delivers a seasoned, veteran performance, inhabiting his character down to his oft-criticized hair. But it is Tautou who becomes the focal point of the film, in terms of both her on-screen presence and the revelation of her character’s identity. Without consideration of its historical authenticity, The Da Vinci Code stands as an intelligent, challenging and powerful film experience — one that requires conscious attention between the car chases, and an openness of heart and mind to unconventional possibilities.

 -- Ann Yarabinee