Explain!!

Actor Vincent Cassel who played the young cop admitted, "I can't help explain the film because I didn't understand it!" "We cut out everything in the film that was explanatory, therefore 'boring' [according to the director]. You end up with a film that's not boring but you don't understand it [at] all. In the end, I think it's better to have a boring film with a story you understand."

Below is a long explanation of the film for all the people that don't have the DVD or book.

The old university has been trying to create a superior race for generations. Howerver, the closed society has too much incest going on for too long. The bloodlines are weak and worn out. Genetic problems keep popping up such as the eye disease.

In order to bring new blood into the university community, the three manipulators (Dr. Chernezé, nurse and librarian?) begin switching babies, stealing strong babies from the mountain villages. Gradually, they brought into the professors' homes children who weren't from their bloodlines, but village children who were the children of skiers, athletes, the children of people exposed to nature who are healthy. Gradually, the university community, which was sickly and weak, became healthier and healthier.

That's the manipulation of the crimson rivers, the symbol for the blood of athletes. The dean's son quotes, "We control the crimson rivers."

One day, a mountain couple has twins. Fanny is taken away to become the daughter of two professors. The mountain couple is told that one of their twins died. They are sad, but at least they still have Judith Herault and go back into the mountains. The problem is that 11 years later, the mother return to Guernon and visits the school for the children of the university professors. Two children in the same school have the same face despite being from two different families. These twins are incriminating evidence of a manipulation or mix-up at the maternity ward. When the three manipulators discover that the little girl is back, they try to kill her.

Judith's mother understands vaguely that someone is trying to kill her child. She takes her child and hides in another town, where the young cop will be investigating later. She thinks of a way to save Judith by making the evil people think that Judith is dead. She cuts off Judith's finger. She had dug up the body of another child and had it run over by a truck in 1982. She makes people believe that Judith died by holding the finger left on the side of the road.

From then on, Judith lives in the shadow of her sister Fanny. The two twins live one life. They change roles regularly. When one hides, the other lives openly. Judith is the one who mutilates, who tortures, who starts an insane vengeance.

Judith tortures and kills the librarian Rémy Caillois, who had been continuing his father's thesis on eugenics. She takes away the identifying hands and eyes, just as the twins' identity were taken away. The goal of the twins is for the crimson river conspiracy to be discovered; they are giving hints as to their motives. At the end of the movie, Fanny tells detective Pierre Niemans that she wanted him to understand, so no one could forget.

When the conspirators learn about how the librarian died, they panic. They go to the cemetery to find out about Judith. They desecrated the tomb with a swastika to make the police think that it was the work of skinheads. They steal her records from the school.

The reflections involved with each of the three murders hint that there are double killers, just like a reflection. Fanny is supposed to have seen the librarian's body from the reflection off a river. Niemans discovers the second body (Philippe Sertys who worked in the university maternity wing) through the ice. After Fanny murders Dr. Bernard Chernezé, his body is reflected in the dark window of his house.

Niemans realizes that glaciologist Fanny intends to start an avalanche upon the university, which is located in a valley, but he doesn't know about the twin. The director doesn't want to explain any of the above, so instead the movie ends with Niemans starting to explain why he's afraid of dogs!??? :-(

Yeah, not understanding it should require you to watch it again, not have someone else give you an interpretation of it. I didn't get it at first, but i liked it enough to buy the dvd and watch it a few more times until i put all the pieces together myself. Thats the way true mysteries are supposed to be. I hate when movies give you an explaination at the end. The Crimson Rivers is one of the best serial killer/mystery movies i've seen in a while

Taking Lives sucked

This is one of those good movies that could have been great. Unfortunately, the director decided his audience would get bored with explanations and decided not to have them in the movie. Watch the supplemental material on the DVD and it's all explained, especially by the author of the book. I enjoyed it but was disappointed when I realized how much better it could have been.