MovieChat Forums > Rapt (2009) Discussion > True story [spoilers]

True story [spoilers]

posted 13 years ago by twelvepointnine
5 replies | jump to latest

Just saw this and noticed it's based on real events. Does anyone know more about what happened?
Excellent thriller by the way.

Chaos reigns

[–] sparrohawk-1 13 years ago

All I have gleaned so far is :
"....based on the actual 1978 kidnapping of a French-Belgian executive (Edouard Empain) whose harrowing 9-week experience at the hands of a criminal band is, ultimately, less life-threatening to him than the details of his scandalous life which the tabloids uncover in the course of these events".

However, for a little more of the true story, further links and pictures of the real hostage see:
http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.affaires-criminelles.com%2Fbio_68.php&lp=fr_en&.intl=us&fr=greentree_ff1

But I agree, it was excellent. A dark, foreboding movie, and one which did not star the three greats of French cinema: Depardieu, Auteuil or Cassel.

[–] twelvepointnine 13 years ago

Thank you very much for all the information!

Chaos reigns

[–] sparrohawk-1 13 years ago

Thank you for pointing out that there was indeed a true story behind the movie!

[–] henrimaine 10 years ago

The link above did not work for me, but wikipedia has a long article on Édouard-Jean Empain - the real life business mogul who was kidnapped in 1978. Interesting to read about stuff like that.

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

I'm not sure why the movie did not give us any post scripts, as many of the events in the film follow the facts of the case involving the kidnapping of Édouard-Jean Empain. One major difference though is that IRL the kidnappers were all caught, whereas in the movie they all, apart from the ones on the train, appear to escape justice.🐭