Frantic is one of Polanski‘s first steps out of the darkness of his early work. From despair to mere cynicism. In what’s one of the director’s most Hitchcockian suspense tales, the nerdy side of Ford must unite with the naughty Seigner on an initially intriguing but quickly standard mystery. The plot lacks a sense of risk or danger that elevates these sorts of tales, and the most Polanski (best) thing about it, Ford and Seigner’s subtly dirty sexual dynamic, still isn’t enough to save the trite.