The Wolf's Call () is a 2019 French action thriller film written and directed by Antonin Baudry in his feature film directorial debut. The film is about a submarine's sonar operator, Chanteraide (François Civil), who must use his brilliant sense of hearing to track down a French ballistic missile submarine and end the threat of nuclear war.
The film was released theatrically in France by Pathé on 20 February 2019. Netflix acquired distribution rights for North America, Latin America, Spain and Scandinavia, where the film was released in Summer 2019.
Plot
The French submarine Titan – Titane (Titanium) in the original French version – is sent near the Mediterranean coast of Tartus, Syria to stealthily recover a French Special Forces unit operating in the area. The submarine sails under the command of Captain Grandchamp and Executive Officer (XO) D'Orsi. However, during their mission they encounter an unidentified sonar contact. The sonar expert of the submarine, Chanteraide – nicknamed "Socks", and serving as "golden ear", the officer specialized in underwater acoustics – first classifies the contact as a wounded whale, but it quickly turns out that the contact is an unknown submarine transmitting their position to an Iranian frigate and a maritime helicopter operating in the area. The helicopter launches depth charges in what seems to be an unprovoked act of aggression which, however, is a valid defensive measure as the Titan is in fact violating sovereign Syrian waters while recovering a foreign force that has already engaged in combat and killed Syrian nationals. After evading the barrage, the Titan surfaces, and the captain shoots down the helicopter with a Panzerfaust 3. They recover the Special Forces unit and return to base.
When the Titan returns to base, the radio announces that Russia is invading Finland's Åland Islands, and that the French President has decided to send a naval task force to the Baltic Sea in support of Finland. The Russian government then threatens nuclear retaliation against the French Republic. Chanteraide, trying to identify the unknown contact in Syria, hacks into his superior officer's computer and after conducting research at a bookstore where he starts a romantic relationship with Diane, as well as the naval archives, discovers that it is in fact a Russian Timour III ballistic missile submarine, supposedly dismantled. Meanwhile, Grandchamp is promoted for his actions to command Formidable – Effroyable (Dreadful) in the original French version – while D'Orsi takes over command of Titan.
The Formidable is launched with its new captain and the Titan as its escort submarine. Chanteraide is pulled aside during roll call and Grandchamp explains he has failed his drug test and will not be boarding the submarine. Chanteraide distresses at the now empty dock but after an air raid siren sounds, runs into the bunker where the naval staff have relocated. The French military command detects a Russian R-30 nuclear missile being launched by the Timour III from the Bering Sea, prompting the French President to order the Formidable to launch one of its nuclear missiles against Russia in response.
In the command bunker, Chanteraide finds an anomaly while listening to the recording of the launch - the missile sounds too light, because it was launched without a nuclear warhead. Chanteraide and his superior officer immediately call the admiral in command of the Strategic Oceanic Force (the ALFOST), but the ALFOST puts them on hold as the US Secretary of State has also called. The Secretary of State reveals critical intelligence that the terrorist organisation Al-Jadida had illegally bought the decommissioned Timour III submarine from a corrupt admiral and launched an empty missile at France, tricking the French into an irrevocable procedure to launch a nuclear counterstrike from the Formidable. The ALFOST and Chanteraide are then flown by helicopter to the Titan in an attempt to stop the nuclear launch by all means necessary.