''The Chameleon'' is a 2010

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Jean-Paul Salomé Jean-Paul Salomé (born 14 September 1960) is a French director and screenwriter. Filmography External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Salome, Jean-Paul 1960 births Living people Film directors from Paris French male screenwriters French ...

, who co-wrote the screenplay with Natalie Carter. The film is based upon the true story of

Frédéric Bourdin Frédéric Pierre Bourdin (born 13 June 1974)Mick Brown''The Daily Telegraph'', 11 August 2012. is a French serial impostor the press has nicknamed "The Chameleon". He began his impersonations as a child and claims to have assumed at least 500 fa ...

who impersonated a missing child named Nicholas Barclay in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, in the 1990s. Much of the true story was incorporated into the film although the years have been altered and the location was moved to

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

Plot

A young man (

Marc-André Grondin Marc-André Grondin (born March 11, 1984) is a Canadian actor, known for his role as Xavier Laflamme in the 2011 ice hockey film ''Goon''. He also played Zachary Beaulieu in Jean-Marc Vallée's film '' C.R.A.Z.Y.'' (2005), for which he won a Jutr ...

) in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

shaves off all his body hair and turns himself in to the police. The man claims to be a 16-year-old boy from

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

named Nicholas Mark Randall, who had been missing for four years. His story is that he was kidnapped by a child prostitution ring in France who physically altered his appearance. He is reunited with his family who immediately have their suspicions regarding his story. His mother (

Ellen Barkin Ellen Rona Barkin (born April 16, 1954) is an American actress and a producer. Her breakthrough role was in the 1982 film '' Diner'', and in the following years, she had starring roles in films such as ''Tender Mercies'' (1983), ''Eddie and the ...

) and half brother Brendan (

Nick Stahl Nicolas Kent Stahl (born December 5, 1979) is an American actor. Starting out as a child actor, he gained recognition for his performance in the 1993 film ''The Man Without a Face'', co-starring Mel Gibson. He later transitioned into his adult ...

) do not seem to accept him, and many questions are open regarding whether this man could in fact be their lost family member, considering he bears little resemblance to the boy who left and now talks with a French accent. His sister Kathy (

Emilie de Ravin Emilie de Ravin (; born 27 December 1981) is an Australian actress. She starred as Tess Harding on '' Roswell'' (2000–2002), Claire Littleton on the ABC drama ''Lost'' (2004–2008, 2010), and as Belle on the ABC drama ''Once Upon a Time'' ...

) accepts his story without hesitation and eventually so does his possible mother. F.B.I. Agent Jennifer Johnson (

Famke Janssen Famke Beumer Janssen (; born ) is a Dutch actress. She played Xenia Onatopp in ''GoldenEye'' (1995), Jean Grey / Phoenix in the ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2014), and Lenore Mills in the ''Taken'' film trilogy (2008–2014). In 2008, she ...

) strongly suspects that he is lying because she has had extensive experiences with people lying to her, including a man who was a child murderer whom she had dated. Meanwhile, his story starts to unravel and the true story of what happened to Nicholas starts to emerge.

Cast

as Frederic Fortin / Nicholas Mark Randall *

as F.B.I. Agent Jennifer Johnson *

as Kimberly Miller *

as Kathy Jansen *

Tory Kittles Tory Kittles is an American actor. He has appeared in the films ''Malibu's Most Wanted'' (2003), ''Get Rich or Die Tryin (2005), ''Next'' (2007), ''Miracle at St. Anna'' (2008), and ''Dragged Across Concrete'' (2018). He is known mostly for hi ...

as Dan Price *

Brian Geraghty Brian Timothy Geraghty (born May 13, 1975) is an American actor, known for his roles in the 2005 film '' Jarhead'', the 2008 film ''The Hurt Locker'', and in the 2012 film ''Flight'', along with his recurring role in the HBO drama series '' Board ...

as Brian Jansen *

as Brendan Kerrigan *

Anne Le Ny Anne Le Ny (born 16 December 1962) is a French actress, screenwriter and film director. Filmography Actress Screenwriter or director Theatre References French film directors French women film directors Living people French fil ...

as Frédéric's mother

Release

The film premiered at the 2010

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

in the United States.

Critical reception

The film received mostly mixed to negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave the film a 41 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews", based on 5 reviews.

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said the film barely addresses the central issue of Nicholas being an imposter, except at the film's "unsatisfying, sentimental conclusion.

Aaron Hillis Aaron Hillis is an American writer, film critic, director, film festival programmer, and curator. Career Hillis has been active in independent film, especially within the fields of indie festivals, exhibitions, indie film distribution and progr ...

of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' said the film's psychological, emotional, and moral implications are not explored.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chameleon 2010 films English-language Canadian films English-language French films 2010 crime drama films Drama films based on actual events Films set in France Films set in Louisiana Films set in Spain Films shot in France Films shot in Louisiana Crime films based on actual events Gaumont Film Company films French crime drama films Films directed by Jean-Paul Salomé Films produced by Ram Bergman American crime drama films Canadian crime drama films Films scored by Bruno Coulais Films about identity theft French-language Canadian films 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films 2010s American films 2010s French films