The 2019 fire that almost destroyed Notre-Dame was an event that shocked the world and made director Jean-Jacques Annaud want to make a movie about how firefighters managed to save the art treasures.

Using newsreel footage and the Bourges Cathedral as a very convincing stand-in for Notre-Dame help the filmmakers bring us close to the actual disaster; the way it’s edited makes it look like President Macron is a character interacting with the cast.

Unremarkable as a drama, but horrifyingly effective at times; we’re served both thrills and emotion.

2022-France-Italy. 110 min. Color. Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. Screenplay: Jean-Jacques Annaud, Thomas Bidegain. Cast: Samuel Labarthe (Jean-Marie Gontier), Jean-Paul Bordes (General Gallet), Mikaël Chirinian (Laurent Prades), Jérémie Laheurte, Maximilien Seweryn, Dimitri Storoge.

Trivia: Original title: Notre-Dame brûle. Anne Hidalgo, then-mayor of Paris, plays herself in one scene.