- "Please understand. It was just business. It wasn't personal..."
- ―Saint-Clair's last words before being shot by Bryan
Patrice Saint-Clair is the secondary antagonist in the 2008 film, Taken. He was the leader of a human trafficking ring who is targeted by Bryan Mills after he attempt to sell his daughter Kim on the black market.
Biography[]
According to the file that was displayed on Jean-Claude Pitrel's computer, Patrice Saint-Clair was born on April 11, 1962 in Geneva, Switzerland, although he was a resident of Paris. Patrice Saint-Clair became a leading human trafficker, who dealt with an Albanian ring that kidnapped female tourists, some who were used as prostitutes. The Albanians sold virgins to Saint-Clair, who then auctioned them off as slaves to elite clientele. Bryan went in search of Kim after he tortured and killed Marko Hoxha, but was knocked out by Saint-Clair's henchmen after being caught having held a buyer at gunpoint forcing him to buy his daughter as she was being auctioned in an attempt to save her. Saint-Clair confronted Bryan when while he was tied to an overhead steam pipe, with Bryan demanding that he return Kim to him. In a twist of irony, Saint-Clair mentioned that he was a father to two sons and a daughter, and explains to Bryan that all sales are final. Patrice then orders his men to kill him in a quiet manner so as not to alarm his guests.
However, Bryan used his superior skills to break the pipe and killed all of the henchmen before he went after Saint-Clair, and took one of their Taurus PT111 pistols. Bryan cornered Saint-Clair in an elevator and demanded to know where Kim was. Saint-Clair tried to reason with him, but Bryan shot him several times in the limbs, and forced him to reveal that Kim was taken onboard a yacht owned by a Sheikh named Raman. Saint-Clair pleaded with Bryan, saying it was all just business and not personal, but Bryan replied "It was all personal to me" before emptying the gun into Saint-Clair's chest. Saint-Claire's bullet-ridden corpse was carried up the elevator and seen by his guests, one of whom screamed in shock.
Personality[]
An immoral man, Patrice Saint-Clair showed himself to be apathetic about the lives he was ruining with the whole sex trafficking operation, viewing it as nothing more than a unique business at that, showing that he was willing to stoop so low as to run a whole operation involving girls being kidnapped and auctioned off as sex slaves which had obviously result in them being raped and abused by whoever buys them.
What little of his redeeming qualities seem paltry. Notably, his telling Bryan that he wishes he could give him Kim as he asks may come across as a sense of sympathy for Bryan, but given that he says this in a tone and expression devoid of emotion, it was pretty vague as to whether he really sympathizes with Bryan's situation, especially when he then explained to him that this was a business they were running and discretion was the only rule they had. He then coldly ordered his henchmen to kill Bryan after that, without remorse or hesitation, before leaving. Furthermore in St. Clair's final moments, where he claimed that his job was nothing personal and just business, he was probably only trying to convince Bryan to spare him. In addition, he never considered his actions to be wrong, continually referring to "business" rather than something immoral. However, when Bryan revealed to him that he is the father of the last girl sold at the auction, St. Clair replied that he himself is the father of two sons and a daughter and therefore knows how he feels, confirming at least that he has love for his children and he said this while Bryan is in chains, So there was no real pragmatic reason for him to say this.
Trivia[]
- Saint-Clair spoke English with an American accent, though he was played by English actor, Gérard Watkins, and was supposedly Swiss.