Overview: Sailing the world aboard their blue schooner, Jean, Isabelle, and Isabelle’s young son Damien stop in Djibouti to repair a broken engine. There they meet Mike, a resourceful taxi driver who helps them track down a hard-to-find part.

As their search drags on, Mike asks to join them on the next leg of their journey. Jean is reluctant, but with the dangerous Gulf of Aden ahead, an extra pair of hands could be useful. When they finally set sail for the Seychelles, Mike comes aboard.

After several days at sea, a Somali fishing vessel approaches. The fishermen reveal themselves to be pirates and seize the schooner, taking the crew hostage. Then, without warning, Mike pulls out a gun and kills the pirates’ leader, saving the family.

The immediate danger is over, but the boat’s radio has been destroyed, and land is still days away. Alone on the open ocean, Jean and Isabelle find themselves trapped with a man they barely know. Why is Mike carrying a gun, and can they really trust him?

DVD Verdict: Jean, Isabelle, and her son Damien have left everything behind to sail around the world. During a stopover in Djibouti, they meet Mike, a taxi driver. Jean, anxious about setting sail again toward the dangerous Gulf of Aden, decides to take Mike aboard against Isabelle’s wishes.

Albert Mahuzier, a filmmaker, invented the concept of family adventure after the war. From then on, with his wife and nine children, they continued to travel the world.

In a France fresh from the last war, their films caused a stir, and large audiences came to the connaissance du monde conferences to discover the adventures of this unique family.

Although Isabelle is a writing a book in the movie, and although Damien is indeed her son (he calls me papa, Jean says), their motive is not to share their experiences with eventual audiences; the heroine confesses she did not find her place in a society she shuns and Mike is a rootless man - his motive makes sense and explains his final attitude. As for Jean, he’s the weak link in the script, his character being not developed enough for my liking.

Except for the first scenes all the action takes place on the boat and it’s a huis clos, recalling sometimes Roman Polanski’s first feature film Knife in the Water atmosphere (just without all the sex rivalry). Add in some elements of René Clément’s Plein Soleil aka Purple Noon and you will soon know what it is I am visually referencing here. Isabelle writes a book like Marge, and the last scenes, although on their own, well, they are absolutely successful (and genuinely suspenseful to boot).

In closing, and overall, the artistic choice is particularly interesting as this thrills like a thriller should, but scenes that are seen through the eyes of Isabelle, hidden away in her cabin, or on a lifeboat far from the tragedy (later shown as a fleeting flashback), are as clouded in the noir mists of time as they ever could be (intentionally or not).

Slow-moving, but a latent threat which hangs over a quiet life on a boat in the sun, Everyone Calls Me Mike is a most definite yes for a cinematic evening in on a Saturday night [N.O.]

Everyone Calls Me Mike | Official Trailer

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