Arnaud Desplechin's La Sentinelle is an exquisitely crafted, beautifully paced French espionage thriller, driven by sonorously sombre scoring, quietly unpredictable plotting, and the adroitly sophisticated performances of Emmanuel Salinger, Thibault de Montalembert, et al.
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"A Germany-based medical student, the son of a foreign diplomat, returns by train to the country of his birth to further his studies. He is puzzled by the harsh treatment he receives from customs at the border, but doesn’t begin to understand why until he gets home and discovers a mummified head in his luggage. He suspects that someone at customs put it there, but is not sure. Instead of reporting the meandering body part, he decides to investigate it using the tools he has as a medical student. It appears to be the head of a Russian who died somewhere in Asia." TMDb
