| The Key | |
| Native Name: | French: La Clef |
| Director: | Guillaume Nicloux |
| Producer: | Frédéric Bourboulon Philippe Rousselet Étienne Comar |
| Starring: | Guillaume Canet Marie Gillain Vanessa Paradis Josiane Balasko Thierry Lhermitte Jean Rochefort Françoise Lebrun |
| Cinematography: | Christophe Offenstein |
| Editing: | Guy Lecorne |
| Distributor: | SND Films |
| Studio: | Les Films de la Suane |
| Runtime: | 115 minutes |
| Country: | France |
| Language: | French |
| Budget: | $6.3 million |
| Gross: | $3.4 million[1] |
The Key (French: '''La Clef''') is a 2007 French thriller film directed by Guillaume Nicloux.
Eric Vincent is in his thirties and lives an uneventful life with his wife Audrey. They are talking about having a child. Eric is contacted by a friend of his biological father he never knew about the latter's death. Eric can come and collect his father's ashes. He is reluctant but then accepts.
The Key closes the dark and complex detective trilogy of William Nicloux. We find in this film, in supporting roles populating the parallel plots that Eric Vincent (Guillaume Canet), the characters of François Maneri (Thierry Lhermitte), the investigator of a private matter, Une affaire privée, and Michèle Varin (Josiane Balasko), the police captain in That Woman, the second part.