This movie starts out looking like a fairly conventional police procedural and ends up something much richer and subtler. It's full of nice little surprises that subvert our expectations of this sort of movie as we've come to know it from the Hollywood model. In fact, it's a wonderful example of how the American model can be molded into something more complicated. One example of that is the relationship between the "little lieutenant" and his attractive, middle-aged alcoholic supervisor. It's largely a filial-maternal relationship, but with subtle erotic undertones that keep us guessing at what might (or might not) develop between the two characters. In fact, little about the plot or the characters turn out the way you expect, and that's a fine thing. The movie also has a script written with exceptional skill and economy. We see only one scene between the lieutenant and his wife, and we hear a few additional comments about his marriage in other scenes, but from these brief bits we get a picture of a complex and problematic relationship that tells us as much as we need to know about the couple. While nothing about this movie is flashy, I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since I saw it earlier this week. It's thought provoking and I recommend it highly.
23 Reviews
living with the loss
geoffreydeloncle26 February 2006
As in previous Beauvois' movies, this film is about loss. The loss is everywhere in the movie : the loss of the dead child of the main female character, the loss of a normal couple life for the "petit lieutenant" and, finally, his loss. What makes the movie so interesting is the way in which it uses the form of the cope movie (film noir) as a way to reflect the hardships of living with the memory of the dead, to go on while things are forever changed by their disappearance. At the same time, the form of the cope movie is more than a mere pretext: the director is very much at ease with the conventions of the genre and is very skillful at going beyond by adding stunning realistic elements. There is no heroism there, only gloom and despair. No big man hunt, but a very trivial one. A very good movie. A must see for lovers of french film noir.
Very realistic
rkrcmar17 November 2005
I saw the movie being a French police officer.
Usually I don't like movies about French police for they are mostly very unrealistic.
There however we have a story about what could be a regular case in one of the most important Crime Units in the city of Paris. With regular police work done by regular police detectives.
The actors are playing in a such realistic manner that they just could be real cops caught in their everyday work.
The movie is sad, very sad and hard. I don't think you would apply to become a police officer after seeing it ...
Usually I don't like movies about French police for they are mostly very unrealistic.
There however we have a story about what could be a regular case in one of the most important Crime Units in the city of Paris. With regular police work done by regular police detectives.
The actors are playing in a such realistic manner that they just could be real cops caught in their everyday work.
The movie is sad, very sad and hard. I don't think you would apply to become a police officer after seeing it ...
Well done, though not really great
slabihoud20 October 2005
A young lieutenant, fresh from school, starts in Paris in a homicide squad. He grew up in Le Havre, where his wife still teaches at school. He misses her and tries to get her to move to Paris too. His boss is a very good police inspector, who just returns to the police after having dropped for personal reasons. She had lost her only son and became an alcoholic. Now she is clean and takes over a new group. Soon they have to investigate the murder of a homeless person. The search for the killer brings big dangers for most of the group, but specially for the lieutenant and his boss.
The film shows some everyday routine of police work and how the officers enjoy themselves after their day is done. There are no big things going on, even the murder case is not very special. It is the personal situation of the two main characters that involves the interest of the audience. Well done, though not really great. 7 out of 10.
The film shows some everyday routine of police work and how the officers enjoy themselves after their day is done. There are no big things going on, even the murder case is not very special. It is the personal situation of the two main characters that involves the interest of the audience. Well done, though not really great. 7 out of 10.
One of the best of the year (so far)
emeiserloh7 October 2007
Le Petit Lieutenant makes Eastern Promises look like the mediocre knock off it is. "Eastern..." has nothing substantial to offer beyond a couple of signature scenes and is ultimately forgettable after the echo of its posturing and violence subside (can't really understand why the critics adore Cronenberg so much), and it is no more evident than when I compare his film to another that works so much better, like Le Petit Lieutenant (an 8 1/2 out of 10)
Both are dramas that operate fully within the "crime genre," but whereas there is very little that is original or compelling beyond the dramatic pretense of Eastern Promises, the French film is rich with characterizations and direction that lend depth to its realistic story. Whereas "Eastern..." creates slick, hip Hollywood scenes that tease and gratify our primal senses without really engaging any of its real dilemmas, "Petit..." draws us in (via a casual documentary like style) to the life of a young detective just out of cadet school who is becoming familiar with his co-workers and line of work on the streets of Paris. It is through him and his interactions with everything around him that we begin to experience something more dramatic, almost without realizing it, until the tragedy of common (rather than postured) occurrence invades our psyche, and plays out amidst a suspense created by the tension of anxiety, anguish, and inner strength of his chief inspector (a woman), portrayed with great humanity by Nathalie Baye.
Like all Hollywood movies, Eastern Promises offers the semblance of real drama at the beginning, only to abandon its stories and characters as it lapses into the improbability and titillation we have all grown accustomed to at the cinema. The french film, on the other hand, demonstrates its concern for the people it has given life to by engaging our own humanity rather than our anticipation of the next thrill that lies around the corner....
your cinewest correspondent
Both are dramas that operate fully within the "crime genre," but whereas there is very little that is original or compelling beyond the dramatic pretense of Eastern Promises, the French film is rich with characterizations and direction that lend depth to its realistic story. Whereas "Eastern..." creates slick, hip Hollywood scenes that tease and gratify our primal senses without really engaging any of its real dilemmas, "Petit..." draws us in (via a casual documentary like style) to the life of a young detective just out of cadet school who is becoming familiar with his co-workers and line of work on the streets of Paris. It is through him and his interactions with everything around him that we begin to experience something more dramatic, almost without realizing it, until the tragedy of common (rather than postured) occurrence invades our psyche, and plays out amidst a suspense created by the tension of anxiety, anguish, and inner strength of his chief inspector (a woman), portrayed with great humanity by Nathalie Baye.
Like all Hollywood movies, Eastern Promises offers the semblance of real drama at the beginning, only to abandon its stories and characters as it lapses into the improbability and titillation we have all grown accustomed to at the cinema. The french film, on the other hand, demonstrates its concern for the people it has given life to by engaging our own humanity rather than our anticipation of the next thrill that lies around the corner....
your cinewest correspondent
A tremendous sense of loss
jandesimpson15 June 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Very rarely a film introduces an event so sickeningly unexpected that the audience is completely thrown off balance. Generally is's a question of the director manipulating the audience as in Hitchcock's masterly "Psycho". On a deeper level there are those examples where tragedy strikes, with awful suddenness, characters one has got to know and emphasise with, to the extent that one is left with a real emotion of grief. I remember the inescapable sadness that descended on "Japanese Story", a film set in the Australian outback which almost had one crying out for the reel to be turned back at a point about two-thirds of the way through. Much the same happens in "Le Petit Lieutenant", a brilliant cop-flick, directed by Xavier Beauvois, that has haunted me these past few days. There are scores of films about everyday police work, so much so that it hardly seemed possible that something new and profoundly moving could come from the genre. I very nearly passed it by. Fortunately an interesting opening sequence where a likable looking young guy passes his police graduation ceremony to the gratification of his likable looking parents and younger brother, generated interest. A certain amount of human feeling perhaps in an ofttimes arid and mechanical genre. Nor was I disappointed as the film progressed. I did not pick up much on the baddies who seemed a rather faceless lot. I wasn't much interested in what they were doing - something to do with immigrants from East Europe, stabbings and a body fished out of the river. It was the cops themselves that were much more clearly delineated - a young Moroccan who had clearly got over a difficult racist start and an older one whose boredom with routine triggers the central tragedy. But it was Antoine, the young "Petit Lieutenant" who had just joined the Paris force who provided one of the two most strikingly rounded characters. He just exuded enthusiasm for his new life, walking jauntily, racing his police car as if it were a new toy, getting sloshed with his mates in a bar. We are not told until a little way into the film that he is married. On his return to his Le Havre home the accusation of neglect by his wife induces an apology. He is a nice guy after all. But there is another character who is to share our attention every bit as much and more as the film deepens - a policewoman Commandant, brilliantly played by that great French actress, Nathalie Baye. A cured alcoholic, she has just returned to a senior position in the force. It is not until after some time that we learn of her losing her seven year old boy to meningitis. The fact that he would now have been the same age as the young police officer creates a rather special bond that is never less than professional. There is a relaxed moment of wonderful irony when they share a joint in a Paris street after nightfall only to be asked by a young man passing by if he can take a puff, after which he advises them to take care as the place is swarming with cops. What follow shortly after is the stuff of tragedy. The case that is being worked on is fairly routine but its consequences are far from that. It hardly matters that there is a chase followed later by a shootout in a different locality. What lingers is the face of Nathalie Baye as she walks by the sea where we share her silent emotions in a final closeup as powerful as that of the young boy in "Les "Quatre Cent Coups". "Le Petit Lieutenant" is a film to be seen twice, When we know what is to come it somehow resonates far more deeply.
Two movies in one
stensson6 January 2007
This is the procedure school. It starts as a rather hectic story about the young policeman starting his job in a hectic Paris and ends in a classic British murder case, as it's seen in many many TV productions from BBC.
But the Parisian police force is shown as real human beings this time, including alcohol problems, which is quite rare in French movies. The French attitude to alcohol has always been that there never can be any problems about it, because we're French. Anyway, after a while the movie is focused on the female Captain instead of the young copper. There's one main character in the beginning of the film and another at the end.
Rather OK as police movie, but rather soon to be forgotten anyway.
But the Parisian police force is shown as real human beings this time, including alcohol problems, which is quite rare in French movies. The French attitude to alcohol has always been that there never can be any problems about it, because we're French. Anyway, after a while the movie is focused on the female Captain instead of the young copper. There's one main character in the beginning of the film and another at the end.
Rather OK as police movie, but rather soon to be forgotten anyway.
Out of a familiar genre something fresh and touching
Chris Knipp18 March 2006
There's nothing very original about a rookie police officer from the provinces fresh out of police academy on his first assignment in Paris tackling a homicide case, yet director Xavier Beauvois; his star, the experienced Nathale Baye (who got a César for Best Actress for this role); and the other actors, some rookies, others veterans, have made something so fresh, exiting, and touching out of this material you almost feel as if nobody made a flic (cop) flick in France before though of course such things are a longtime specialty there. Beauvois' Le Petit lieutenant simply shows that the French really know how to make movies. It doesn't matter how familiar the genre is, they can create something with texture and authenticity out of it.
For me the rich feel Beauvois brings to his seemingly conventional material begins with the fact that there's no background music it gives events on screen an unadorned quality and with the way Beauvois, who's still in his thirties, puts his own basic experience into the story. Antoine (Jalil Lespert), the "petit lieutenant," the rookie, grew up in Normandy dreaming of being a cop in Paris where the great crimes are solved, he says inspired by watching movies too. Beauvois grew up in Normandy himself, dreaming the same kind of dreams, watching movies, only the dreams were dreams of going to Paris where the great movies are made. Make the simple equation: Crimes+movies=crime movies and you've got a director who's making a parable about his own life.
Caroline Vaudieu (Baye), the Inspector who chooses Antoine for her crime unit, is returning to work on the street again from a long period of the alcoholism that blighted both Beauvois' father's and his own life. Twelve-step recovery and addiction are felt and understood in the film. The AA meetings Caroline attends are in real AA meeting rooms with real alcoholics on screen. Caroline and Antoine are linked in ways that are felt, not contrived. She lost her son to meningitis nine years ago and Antoine's the age her son would be if he'd lived. Antoine's elementary school teacher wife has stayed in Normandy and now he has a room in Paris. He and Caroline share lonely lives; both are making a new start. And the casting is close to home in multiple ways: Beauvois, who also acts in the film as one of the crime team, Morbé, has cast Jalil's actor father Jean and brother Yaniss as his father and brother and his actress wife Bérangère Allaux as his wife.
The opening scenes of Antoine's graduation from police academy and being embraced and congratulated by his family, and the elaborate procedure by which the assignments are handed out to the new graduates, are moments that in other hands might seem routine, but here they fairly bristle with authenticity. Such realism takes time to achieve. Eventually Le Petit lieutenant is going to become exciting, even hair-raising, but it doesn't have the BANG! BANG! opening sequences dear to US directors, nor are those openings about Antoine simply routine: they're the beginning of an extended portrait of Antoine and his new life in Paris. This movie is fundamentally humanistic and it doesn't hurry because we need to get to know Antoine and the team he works with, feel the boredom and routine that are big parts of any cop's life, acquaint ourselves with the details of their personalities.
Somehow I don't think a rookie in an American cop movie would tell his dad that the extraction of a brain in his first witnessed autopsy made him think of Mozart and say "It's strange, I thought: 'Mozart was made of this too.'" There's no "need" for that moment; but it makes all the difference. It's of such moments that good movies are made.
Antoine's on night duty at first and when his team goes out he's made to stay behind to man phones. He gets drunk to celebrate his initiation, which is good for camaraderie (and for the rounding out of Antoine's character) but hard for Inspector Vaudrieu, who must stand by drinking nothing but soda water. As the film, knowing about alcoholism, makes us aware, the alcoholic is only one drink away from relapse, and such times are hard for Caroline. She has to leave the bar and go home early. Later naively the rookie admits to her he used to smoke the occasional joint and surprisingly, she shares one with him. There are inevitable hints from the outside that they might have an affair, but given the feelings, that would be incest. What's clear is that though not much time has passed, they've become close.
The first homicide is a homeless person in the Seine petty stuff. But there are connections with another crime and the investigation turns serious. Eventually a failure of responsibility of one of the men leads to dire consequences. When the action really heats up, it's a shock that hits you in the stomach. The "dull, routine" establishing sequences have lulled you and made you forget that violence might be coming. They've also made you understand and care about the characters in an authentic-feeling way so that when somebody is at risk, you take it quite personally and the whole final section of the movie as its focus shifts more and more to Inspector Vaudrieu is tinged with overwhelming sadness.
Nothing that happens in Le Petit lieutenant is out of the ordinary. What's exceptional is the way the screenplay is written to make you care. There's excitement, tension, violence. But it's brilliantly yet understatedly contextualized. The awareness communicated is that cops' frequently numbing work can also be thrilling, important and heartbreaking. Hollywood sends that message out too, but too often in tired language. Because Beauvois' team clearly cared about their work they've been able to show us cops that do so too.
(NYC March 2006.)
For me the rich feel Beauvois brings to his seemingly conventional material begins with the fact that there's no background music it gives events on screen an unadorned quality and with the way Beauvois, who's still in his thirties, puts his own basic experience into the story. Antoine (Jalil Lespert), the "petit lieutenant," the rookie, grew up in Normandy dreaming of being a cop in Paris where the great crimes are solved, he says inspired by watching movies too. Beauvois grew up in Normandy himself, dreaming the same kind of dreams, watching movies, only the dreams were dreams of going to Paris where the great movies are made. Make the simple equation: Crimes+movies=crime movies and you've got a director who's making a parable about his own life.
Caroline Vaudieu (Baye), the Inspector who chooses Antoine for her crime unit, is returning to work on the street again from a long period of the alcoholism that blighted both Beauvois' father's and his own life. Twelve-step recovery and addiction are felt and understood in the film. The AA meetings Caroline attends are in real AA meeting rooms with real alcoholics on screen. Caroline and Antoine are linked in ways that are felt, not contrived. She lost her son to meningitis nine years ago and Antoine's the age her son would be if he'd lived. Antoine's elementary school teacher wife has stayed in Normandy and now he has a room in Paris. He and Caroline share lonely lives; both are making a new start. And the casting is close to home in multiple ways: Beauvois, who also acts in the film as one of the crime team, Morbé, has cast Jalil's actor father Jean and brother Yaniss as his father and brother and his actress wife Bérangère Allaux as his wife.
The opening scenes of Antoine's graduation from police academy and being embraced and congratulated by his family, and the elaborate procedure by which the assignments are handed out to the new graduates, are moments that in other hands might seem routine, but here they fairly bristle with authenticity. Such realism takes time to achieve. Eventually Le Petit lieutenant is going to become exciting, even hair-raising, but it doesn't have the BANG! BANG! opening sequences dear to US directors, nor are those openings about Antoine simply routine: they're the beginning of an extended portrait of Antoine and his new life in Paris. This movie is fundamentally humanistic and it doesn't hurry because we need to get to know Antoine and the team he works with, feel the boredom and routine that are big parts of any cop's life, acquaint ourselves with the details of their personalities.
Somehow I don't think a rookie in an American cop movie would tell his dad that the extraction of a brain in his first witnessed autopsy made him think of Mozart and say "It's strange, I thought: 'Mozart was made of this too.'" There's no "need" for that moment; but it makes all the difference. It's of such moments that good movies are made.
Antoine's on night duty at first and when his team goes out he's made to stay behind to man phones. He gets drunk to celebrate his initiation, which is good for camaraderie (and for the rounding out of Antoine's character) but hard for Inspector Vaudrieu, who must stand by drinking nothing but soda water. As the film, knowing about alcoholism, makes us aware, the alcoholic is only one drink away from relapse, and such times are hard for Caroline. She has to leave the bar and go home early. Later naively the rookie admits to her he used to smoke the occasional joint and surprisingly, she shares one with him. There are inevitable hints from the outside that they might have an affair, but given the feelings, that would be incest. What's clear is that though not much time has passed, they've become close.
The first homicide is a homeless person in the Seine petty stuff. But there are connections with another crime and the investigation turns serious. Eventually a failure of responsibility of one of the men leads to dire consequences. When the action really heats up, it's a shock that hits you in the stomach. The "dull, routine" establishing sequences have lulled you and made you forget that violence might be coming. They've also made you understand and care about the characters in an authentic-feeling way so that when somebody is at risk, you take it quite personally and the whole final section of the movie as its focus shifts more and more to Inspector Vaudrieu is tinged with overwhelming sadness.
Nothing that happens in Le Petit lieutenant is out of the ordinary. What's exceptional is the way the screenplay is written to make you care. There's excitement, tension, violence. But it's brilliantly yet understatedly contextualized. The awareness communicated is that cops' frequently numbing work can also be thrilling, important and heartbreaking. Hollywood sends that message out too, but too often in tired language. Because Beauvois' team clearly cared about their work they've been able to show us cops that do so too.
(NYC March 2006.)
Less said, less action, but more depth
anderzzz-111 February 2007
A young tough guy, eager to be a real cop solving real crime, and to be really cool. A middle-aged woman, alone, with personal problems but well organized and effective. Put these two together in a big city ("the jungle") in some cheesy office rooms, and you may expect to see another cliché cop-movie. But you're wrong.
First of all, this film contains not much action at all. The murder that things evolve around is not the main attraction, it is more of a catalyst for the development of the humans on screen. Furthermore, there is no music to "guide" us emotionally, and no extreme display of emotions (or overacting) as is so common. Instead we follow the characters at distance, but emotions are there, but like in real life, poorly articulated and often ambiguous. And the less glamorous work of attending an autopsy, and reactions to it, is also shown; just the sound is disgusting, and that scene of the film has for me a really artistic feeling to it: it highlights the "fleshy-ness" of the body, that it is not just an abstract piece in life, but something bulky, ugly, imperfect and vulnerable, which is quite a contrast to how the young tough guy probably considers himself.
These aspects together means that the film is more real. That does not have to be an advantage for a film - good film rarely limit itself to a display of reality. But to follow the development of the characters, their life and work, from a distance, sometimes with some police action added, as you do in a very precise way in this film, is very rewarding. This is a good drama with action content.
First of all, this film contains not much action at all. The murder that things evolve around is not the main attraction, it is more of a catalyst for the development of the humans on screen. Furthermore, there is no music to "guide" us emotionally, and no extreme display of emotions (or overacting) as is so common. Instead we follow the characters at distance, but emotions are there, but like in real life, poorly articulated and often ambiguous. And the less glamorous work of attending an autopsy, and reactions to it, is also shown; just the sound is disgusting, and that scene of the film has for me a really artistic feeling to it: it highlights the "fleshy-ness" of the body, that it is not just an abstract piece in life, but something bulky, ugly, imperfect and vulnerable, which is quite a contrast to how the young tough guy probably considers himself.
These aspects together means that the film is more real. That does not have to be an advantage for a film - good film rarely limit itself to a display of reality. But to follow the development of the characters, their life and work, from a distance, sometimes with some police action added, as you do in a very precise way in this film, is very rewarding. This is a good drama with action content.
As Close to Real Life as Movies Get
dgissin7 August 2006
Extremely realistic. So much so that it's almost miserable to watch. We see a young and inexperienced police detective adjust to the aspects of his new job - from working through a pistol stoppage on the range, to knocking on doors looking for information about a murder, interviewing people who barely speak his language and trying to integrate with his new coworkers. We also see an experienced police veteran working through the problems that prolonged living in a stressful environment have produced as she returns to work after a two-year sabbatical. She takes the young Antoine with her throughout the course of a murder investigation, and the illustration of the dichotomy between them is nearly perfect. Avoided are the cliché kicking down of doors, Miami Vice / Hawaii 5-0-style firefights, Joe Friday detectives and "arch villains" that typically plague police films. The overall feeling that I had throughout the movie was monotony and despair as I identified with Antoine's feelings of separation, anxiety and of being overwhelmed. We see equally Commandant Vaudieu's sobriety struggle in scenes where her section is gathering at a bar after work for drinks while she orders a glass of mineral water. It's not a happy movie, it's not even entertaining, but it is realistic, extremely well played, and it is a moving, gritty drama that does for PJs what La Chambre des Officiers did for soldiers. It humanises them.
Insignificant Movie
greg-knapen7 May 2007
OK, I have watched the original French version. But I can't imagine this being better with subtitles.
All I have to say that this is the most boring movie I have seen in a long time. There are almost no redeeming qualities to this film. That's why I can't understand all the positive reviews. It might be realistic in a sense but some real stories are best left untold.
I usually like slow paced movies as long as it serves the purpose of the movie. Tarkovsky's Solaris is extremely slow paced but it allows introspection and sets the mood of the film for example. But in this case, the movie is just filed with mindless dialog that manage to tell us little about the characters. None of which I could identify with or care for. In a lot of the scenes I found myself thinking: "When are they going to shut up"? The acting was pretty bad. Not in an overacting obvious kind of way. But It seems none of the actors cared about their characters and they all looked like they wanted to be elsewhere in most of the scenes. This might be due to the uninspired dialog they were given. Also the whole flow of the movie felt quite mechanical. Going from one scene to the next. It seems this movie was just written (badly) but never directed.
This is one of the few films that I can say generated no emotional response from any of the scenes. No suspense, no fear, no anticipation, no sorrow, no introspection, no intellectual stimulation, no interest what so ever.
A perfect example of what I call an anti-movie.
All I have to say that this is the most boring movie I have seen in a long time. There are almost no redeeming qualities to this film. That's why I can't understand all the positive reviews. It might be realistic in a sense but some real stories are best left untold.
I usually like slow paced movies as long as it serves the purpose of the movie. Tarkovsky's Solaris is extremely slow paced but it allows introspection and sets the mood of the film for example. But in this case, the movie is just filed with mindless dialog that manage to tell us little about the characters. None of which I could identify with or care for. In a lot of the scenes I found myself thinking: "When are they going to shut up"? The acting was pretty bad. Not in an overacting obvious kind of way. But It seems none of the actors cared about their characters and they all looked like they wanted to be elsewhere in most of the scenes. This might be due to the uninspired dialog they were given. Also the whole flow of the movie felt quite mechanical. Going from one scene to the next. It seems this movie was just written (badly) but never directed.
This is one of the few films that I can say generated no emotional response from any of the scenes. No suspense, no fear, no anticipation, no sorrow, no introspection, no intellectual stimulation, no interest what so ever.
A perfect example of what I call an anti-movie.
a superb police drama VOID of the usual clichés
jaybob1 July 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This is an excellent Police drama, of a rookie detective,his female commanding officer & other detectives, also assorted criminal types.
There is however one major difference between this film & all the others. The people here seem real, flesh & blood persons, not the usual stereotypes & none of the usual clichés.
The script does have surprises for the audience at many turns.
The acting by all is pitch perfect.
The settings are in Paris, Le Havre, & other parts of France..Being a police drama there is violence, BUT no where overly done, The only nudity are the dead victims.
We do not have the usual obligatory sex scene. There are some usages of certain words,k BUT that can not be helped.
Great film viewing for an adult audience, excellent sub-titles...
Ratings **** (out of 4) 97 points (out of 100) IMDb 10 (Out of 10)
There is however one major difference between this film & all the others. The people here seem real, flesh & blood persons, not the usual stereotypes & none of the usual clichés.
The script does have surprises for the audience at many turns.
The acting by all is pitch perfect.
The settings are in Paris, Le Havre, & other parts of France..Being a police drama there is violence, BUT no where overly done, The only nudity are the dead victims.
We do not have the usual obligatory sex scene. There are some usages of certain words,k BUT that can not be helped.
Great film viewing for an adult audience, excellent sub-titles...
Ratings **** (out of 4) 97 points (out of 100) IMDb 10 (Out of 10)
Trouble Every Day
writers_reign29 December 2005
Warning: Spoilers
This may be one of the most realistic Police Procedurals ever made. It's low-key to the point of virtually creating an H-minor. No prizes for guessing that Nathalie Baye is outstanding as a Commandant returning to duty after detox - she lost a son and found the sauce, not very original but very human - on the same day Jalil Lespert joins her squad. Fresh out of Training College Lespert badly misses his wife who has remained in their native Le Havre and is reluctant to join him in Paris. Two wounded birds cope as best they can in the day-to-day environment of a homicide squad which is woefully short on glamour/drama but high on realistic routine. A minor murder is investigated thoroughly but with little result i.e. very realistically. Don't look for happy endings tied up in pink ribbons but do look for top-drawer acting.
Excellent, as Monty Burns would say!
alexandermangoldt7 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
The other day me and my friend cam out of the cinema. We had just seen VOLVER by Almodovar, and my friend made a very astute observation. She said: "In the beginning I had difficulties to get into this film. It is so uncommon to watch a film where there are so few cuts within the first ten minutes. Nowadays, when I go to the movies, I expect a car to be blown up or a man to be killed or an army to be set in motion within the first scenes". Le petit lieutenant had the same impact on me. Before seeing it, I thought: O.K., this is a cop film, a whodunit maybe, with a well conceived plot and lots of tension. Fortunately, I was mistaken. This film doesn't rush us into violent crime scenes and bold snide remarks by worn out and disillusioned cops. Instead it gives us an accurate account of everyday police work and it tells us how boring and dull police work can be. Due to these scenes of boredom the sequences where there is some real violence have a bigger impact on the viewer. Anyway, I just want to say, that I was completely thrilled by the realism of this film and I am staring to prefer European cinema to American cinema.
A Deeply Touching View of Policemen
gradyharp15 April 2007
Director Xavier Beauvois, with the intelligent and sensitive script he co-wrote with Cédric Anger, Guillaume Bréaud and Jean-Eric Troubat, allows us, the viewers, to look inside the minds and lives of those people who commit to police work in a manner that pays homage to a maligned group and reinstates our visceral support to the spectrum of on the edge terror mixed with spaces of ennui that these people endure. LA PETIT LIEUTENANT is not a crime film: it is a deeply touching inside view of the men and women who protect us.
Opening with well-staged Le Havre Police Academy graduation images Beauvois focuses on newly graduated Antoine Derouère (Jalil Lespert) as he says goodbye to his family and his wife Julie (Bérangère Allaux), a school teacher who pleads with Antoine not to leave Le Havre for Paris, the destination Antoine seeks to prove his desire for an active detective career. The kind but inexperienced Antoine takes up residence in Paris and is assigned to a homicide unit with equally inexperienced young men who learn the ropes of owning a gun, the embarrassment of performance problems at the shooting range, the awkward first 'arrests' and interrogations, and the endless hours of sitting at a desk waiting for activity. Newly assigned as the head of Antoine's unit is Commandant Caroline Vaudieu (the extraordinary actress Nathalie Baye) who has just come off a two year sabbatical to recover from alcoholism and the associated death of her son from meningitis. The manner in which these people bond is quiet and sensitive and when finally a case comes to their attention - a man found dead in the canal - the force joins begins what they all need to do: the killer must be found.
Clues are explored, people are traced, and Antoine and Vandieu form a particularly close bond, Antoine reminding Vandieu of the son she has lost and Vandieu providing the model for his career. Tension mounts as the criminals are pursued, coincidences occur and a tragedy cracks the bond of the group, affecting each member of the small force immeasurably. It is this very human happening and its effects that wind the movie down to moments of painful acceptance of the life of police people.
The entire cast is first rate and provides ensemble acting that is among the finest on screen. But the portrayal by Nathalie Baye is so multifaceted, embracing the inner trauma of personal losses not only of those she loves but also of her own sense of dignity as she faithfully attends AA meetings, that her performance is triumphant. Jalil Lespert also captures the fine line between innocence and experience that makes his portrait of a new detective not only completely credible but also one that leaves a mark on the heart. The direction and the cinematography by Caroline Champetier keep the film nearly monochromatic, the only color that is left to shock us for a brief moment is the red blood at moments of tension. And the lack of a musical score keeps the tone of the humanity of the film intact, never reducing it to a bombastic Hollywood chase and kill film. This is a little jewel of a film that deserves a very wide audience. Highly Recommended. In French, Polish, and Russian with English subtitles. Grady Harp
Opening with well-staged Le Havre Police Academy graduation images Beauvois focuses on newly graduated Antoine Derouère (Jalil Lespert) as he says goodbye to his family and his wife Julie (Bérangère Allaux), a school teacher who pleads with Antoine not to leave Le Havre for Paris, the destination Antoine seeks to prove his desire for an active detective career. The kind but inexperienced Antoine takes up residence in Paris and is assigned to a homicide unit with equally inexperienced young men who learn the ropes of owning a gun, the embarrassment of performance problems at the shooting range, the awkward first 'arrests' and interrogations, and the endless hours of sitting at a desk waiting for activity. Newly assigned as the head of Antoine's unit is Commandant Caroline Vaudieu (the extraordinary actress Nathalie Baye) who has just come off a two year sabbatical to recover from alcoholism and the associated death of her son from meningitis. The manner in which these people bond is quiet and sensitive and when finally a case comes to their attention - a man found dead in the canal - the force joins begins what they all need to do: the killer must be found.
Clues are explored, people are traced, and Antoine and Vandieu form a particularly close bond, Antoine reminding Vandieu of the son she has lost and Vandieu providing the model for his career. Tension mounts as the criminals are pursued, coincidences occur and a tragedy cracks the bond of the group, affecting each member of the small force immeasurably. It is this very human happening and its effects that wind the movie down to moments of painful acceptance of the life of police people.
The entire cast is first rate and provides ensemble acting that is among the finest on screen. But the portrayal by Nathalie Baye is so multifaceted, embracing the inner trauma of personal losses not only of those she loves but also of her own sense of dignity as she faithfully attends AA meetings, that her performance is triumphant. Jalil Lespert also captures the fine line between innocence and experience that makes his portrait of a new detective not only completely credible but also one that leaves a mark on the heart. The direction and the cinematography by Caroline Champetier keep the film nearly monochromatic, the only color that is left to shock us for a brief moment is the red blood at moments of tension. And the lack of a musical score keeps the tone of the humanity of the film intact, never reducing it to a bombastic Hollywood chase and kill film. This is a little jewel of a film that deserves a very wide audience. Highly Recommended. In French, Polish, and Russian with English subtitles. Grady Harp
An intelligent look at police life in Paris.
runamokprods16 December 2011
This is less about the crime, then the day to day minutiae of police work, in particular the growing relationship between an eager young lieutenant, and his tough, ex-alcoholic boss – Nathalie Baye, in an excellent, uncharacteristically dark performance. There's no romance between the two, just an evolving connection.
In the meantime, the lieutenant's home life is a mess – his wife is understandably angry because he requested his Paris posting, far from their home and her work, without asking her.
This sad, low key, almost documentary like film, without music or fancy shots, is an insightful look into the people who face crime every day. Dense enough that I'd gladly re-see it.
In the meantime, the lieutenant's home life is a mess – his wife is understandably angry because he requested his Paris posting, far from their home and her work, without asking her.
This sad, low key, almost documentary like film, without music or fancy shots, is an insightful look into the people who face crime every day. Dense enough that I'd gladly re-see it.
Competent French crime story, but Nathalie Baye is not Helen Mirren
roland-10427 November 2006
A rookie detective discovers a world of woe chasing seriously dangerous immigrant Russian thugs in Paris and Nice in this competent French crime drama. His boss is a veteran female police commander making a comeback of sorts after alcoholism had blown her off course for a while. For her performance here as Commandant Caroline "Caro" Vaudieu, Nathalie Baye won her second César Award as Best Actress of 2006 (her first was in 1983 for "La Balance"); at 58, she is a veteran of roles in more than 75 films, and her turn here is very good, if not entirely convincing.
By pure coincidence, later, on the same day I saw this film, I watched the last episode of "The Final Act" on PBS's Masterpiece Theater. This presentation, purportedly the last production in the "Prime Suspect" series, starring Helen Mirren as Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison of New Scotland Yard, offers useful comparisons with the French film. "Prime Suspect," of course, set the gold standard for contemporary narrative crime films and has had a splendid 14 year run from 1992 to this past weekend.
The parallels between the protagonists in "Petit Lieutenant" and "Final Act" are extraordinary. Both chief detectives are older women who have suffered through grief, loss and the ravages of the bottle. Both have obvious streaks of vulnerability. And both have something important left to prove: each needs to redeem herself in police work after previous humiliating periods of compromised functioning.
What stands out most in the comparisons is that Mirren's DCI Tennison is tougher than she is vulnerable. She sustains the respect of the men on the force because she can be as brassy and authoritarian as the best of them. And they respect this, never questioning her orders. Miss Baye's Commandant Vaudieu, on the other hand, has a more impassive, retiring personality. And thus her character is less believable than Mirren's, less likely to have risen in the ranks to the very top of a demanding and decidedly tough, not to mention misogynistic, profession. Several actors on Vaudieu's police team are splendid, including Jalil Lespert (the rookie cop, Antoine), Roschdy Zem (Solo) and Antoine Chappey (Louis). (In French, Russian & Polish) My grades: 8/10, B+ (Seen on 11/25/06)
By pure coincidence, later, on the same day I saw this film, I watched the last episode of "The Final Act" on PBS's Masterpiece Theater. This presentation, purportedly the last production in the "Prime Suspect" series, starring Helen Mirren as Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison of New Scotland Yard, offers useful comparisons with the French film. "Prime Suspect," of course, set the gold standard for contemporary narrative crime films and has had a splendid 14 year run from 1992 to this past weekend.
The parallels between the protagonists in "Petit Lieutenant" and "Final Act" are extraordinary. Both chief detectives are older women who have suffered through grief, loss and the ravages of the bottle. Both have obvious streaks of vulnerability. And both have something important left to prove: each needs to redeem herself in police work after previous humiliating periods of compromised functioning.
What stands out most in the comparisons is that Mirren's DCI Tennison is tougher than she is vulnerable. She sustains the respect of the men on the force because she can be as brassy and authoritarian as the best of them. And they respect this, never questioning her orders. Miss Baye's Commandant Vaudieu, on the other hand, has a more impassive, retiring personality. And thus her character is less believable than Mirren's, less likely to have risen in the ranks to the very top of a demanding and decidedly tough, not to mention misogynistic, profession. Several actors on Vaudieu's police team are splendid, including Jalil Lespert (the rookie cop, Antoine), Roschdy Zem (Solo) and Antoine Chappey (Louis). (In French, Russian & Polish) My grades: 8/10, B+ (Seen on 11/25/06)
A fine police procedural that, half-way through, delivers an unexpected emotional wallop
Terrell-431 January 2008
Warning: Spoilers
"There was the liver, the lungs, the heart, all set out on the table like a butcher's display box," says new police lieutenant Antoine Derouere (Jalil Lespert). "This'll sound stupid but I thought of Mozart. I thought, 'How can that stuff compose music like that?'" Derouere is newly graduated from the police academy in his home town of Le Havre. He gets his first choice of an assignment, a plain-clothes homicide unit in Paris. He's ambitious and eager to get involved with real crime solving, and what better place than Paris. His wife is not thrilled. She stays in Le Havre and he goes to Paris, rents a room and meets the men in his unit. There's Captain Berrada, always called Solo, Lieutenant Nicolas Morbe, Lieutenant Patrick Belval and Officer Louis Mallet. The unit is headed by Commandant Caroline Vaudier (Nathalie Baye), who has the reputation of one of the top cops in Paris. She's in her fifties, an alcoholic who sits through Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, hasn't had a drink in two years, still mourns her son who died at 7 of meningitis. She begins to take an interest in this eager young cop. The interest isn't romantic; Derouere is as old as her son would have been had he lived.
The autopsy Derouere observed was his first, and it was on a tramp who had been beaten to death and left on the Seine embankment. It was the same tramp, drunk to incoherence, who'd been picked up on the street two days earlier and tossed into a cell for the night. Soon after, the team is called on to investigate the stabbing of an old man who had been robbed and thrown in the Seine. Now Vaudier mobilizes her team to try to identify the assailants, track them down and bring them in. All they have to go on is that the two might be Russian, one with the name of Piotr, who probably have no papers. They might have spent two or three days picking grapes. We're off on a fascinating police procedural that takes us in and out of Paris and let's us look at how, bit by bit, Vaudier and her team put the pieces together while she tries to keep her own demons at bay. Just as importantly, we see how her team works. We get to know these men, how they spend their time, the dull routines of their work, the plodding nature of checking out statements. We see just how tight a unit they are, and that means we get to see how they accept Derouere and how he fits in. He's the "petit" lieutenant, the new guy with no experience, and we watch while he gains experience.
As a police procedural, Le Petit Lieutenant works just fine. Part of the reason is that most Americans will know none of the actors accept possibly Baye, and her not well. There's no distraction from seeing Hollywood faces from other parts. Part of the reason is that there isn't a single too-handsome face in the crowd. Baye is a good-looking woman who, at 57 and like Helen Mirren, doesn't have to rely on her looks to make us want to watch her. None of the cops would win a beauty contest. Even Lespert, a reasonably handsome man, is not someone you'd gawk over. If this had been a Hollywood film the producers would probably have cast Michelle Pfeiffer as Vaudier and Ryan Phillippe as Derouere. This police procedural is not only well acted, it looks real.
Then something happens half-way through the movie that is so unexpected it's almost shocking. If the first half of the movie was a fascinating step-by-step look at catching a couple of violent murderers, the second half takes the brakes off. The emotional content of the movie pushes straight up. It never gets teary, but there is a genuine wallop. If you're not familiar with the work of that fine actress, Nathalie Baye, this is a good movie to start with.
The autopsy Derouere observed was his first, and it was on a tramp who had been beaten to death and left on the Seine embankment. It was the same tramp, drunk to incoherence, who'd been picked up on the street two days earlier and tossed into a cell for the night. Soon after, the team is called on to investigate the stabbing of an old man who had been robbed and thrown in the Seine. Now Vaudier mobilizes her team to try to identify the assailants, track them down and bring them in. All they have to go on is that the two might be Russian, one with the name of Piotr, who probably have no papers. They might have spent two or three days picking grapes. We're off on a fascinating police procedural that takes us in and out of Paris and let's us look at how, bit by bit, Vaudier and her team put the pieces together while she tries to keep her own demons at bay. Just as importantly, we see how her team works. We get to know these men, how they spend their time, the dull routines of their work, the plodding nature of checking out statements. We see just how tight a unit they are, and that means we get to see how they accept Derouere and how he fits in. He's the "petit" lieutenant, the new guy with no experience, and we watch while he gains experience.
As a police procedural, Le Petit Lieutenant works just fine. Part of the reason is that most Americans will know none of the actors accept possibly Baye, and her not well. There's no distraction from seeing Hollywood faces from other parts. Part of the reason is that there isn't a single too-handsome face in the crowd. Baye is a good-looking woman who, at 57 and like Helen Mirren, doesn't have to rely on her looks to make us want to watch her. None of the cops would win a beauty contest. Even Lespert, a reasonably handsome man, is not someone you'd gawk over. If this had been a Hollywood film the producers would probably have cast Michelle Pfeiffer as Vaudier and Ryan Phillippe as Derouere. This police procedural is not only well acted, it looks real.
Then something happens half-way through the movie that is so unexpected it's almost shocking. If the first half of the movie was a fascinating step-by-step look at catching a couple of violent murderers, the second half takes the brakes off. The emotional content of the movie pushes straight up. It never gets teary, but there is a genuine wallop. If you're not familiar with the work of that fine actress, Nathalie Baye, this is a good movie to start with.
Powerful Stuff
sergepesic25 June 2013
I am not surprised that quite a few of the movie watchers have hard time with this flick. If you are addicted to car chases, random explosions and endless and mindless entertainment, this is definitely not the right movie for you. I, myself can't abide Hollywood garbage. So, I reach out to the rest of the world for quality art movies." The Young Lieutenant" is a perfect little gem of a movie. Even without all the obvious staples of the genre, there is more power and emotion in every single scene than in all of the stupid, badly written, computer generated Hollywood excuses for a movie together. Great actors and strong raw feelings and life as it is, without adornment. I am happy with that.
Une flic
jotix10014 March 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Antoine, a young lieutenant, fresh from the police academy, wants to be assigned to the Paris police force. He feels that by staying in Le Havre he will be missing his call, which is to be in an exciting environment where his talent will matter and he will be appreciated by his peers and superiors. Antoine gets his wish by getting place in the homicide division where there is always some unexpected thing happening.
As Antoine is about to begin his career in Paris, a new police supervisor, Caroline Vaudieu, returns to take command of this unit. She had been away from active duty for a while. In welcoming her back the head of the department congratulates her on being sober for quite some time now. Caroline is battling her own demons in her tragic life because of the death of her son, years ago. In fact, she remarks her late child could have been the same age as Antoine,had he still been among the living.
The death of a homeless person under strange circumstances brings the homicide unit into action. Everything points out to a duo of undocumented Russian immigrants who manage to elude the police investigation trying to capture them. Antoine, who gets the assignment, together with his partner, Morbe, to go after one of the pair who has been hiding in a hostel, makes a tactical error by going alone to the criminal's room, something that ends with fatal consequences. Caroline is devastated by what happened to her young subordinate, vowing to get the criminal, no matter what.
A great "policier" directed with sure hand by Xavier Beauvois, who also collaborated in the screenplay, as well as portrayed Morbe, a man whose mistake proves to be the cause the end of a young man's police career. The police work is examined with accurate detail by the director who keeps things moving, getting his audience immersed in the story. One realizes not all the police work is non stop action.we watch the men for what they are, comrades in arms working to protect the citizens of their area. It also presents a human soul suffering, as is the case of Caroline, a woman whose life has known great suffering in her life and her struggle to keep away from drinking herself into oblivion.
Nathalie Baye makes an excellent, and complex, Caroline. One can sense her pain. She is mourning for a loss that was a terrible blow for a mother. Her becoming an alcoholic ruins her career until she decides to get over her self pity, returning to a job in which she excels. Ms Baye is seen experiencing emotions that one can identify with. Jalil Lespert's new police lieutenant credible. He is perfectly eager doing a job he always dreamed about. Roschy Zem keeps getting better all the time,as he shows here. Jacques Perrin has a small, but effective role as Caroline's old lover. The excellent supporting cast is a joy to watch in an ensemble effort.
As Antoine is about to begin his career in Paris, a new police supervisor, Caroline Vaudieu, returns to take command of this unit. She had been away from active duty for a while. In welcoming her back the head of the department congratulates her on being sober for quite some time now. Caroline is battling her own demons in her tragic life because of the death of her son, years ago. In fact, she remarks her late child could have been the same age as Antoine,had he still been among the living.
The death of a homeless person under strange circumstances brings the homicide unit into action. Everything points out to a duo of undocumented Russian immigrants who manage to elude the police investigation trying to capture them. Antoine, who gets the assignment, together with his partner, Morbe, to go after one of the pair who has been hiding in a hostel, makes a tactical error by going alone to the criminal's room, something that ends with fatal consequences. Caroline is devastated by what happened to her young subordinate, vowing to get the criminal, no matter what.
A great "policier" directed with sure hand by Xavier Beauvois, who also collaborated in the screenplay, as well as portrayed Morbe, a man whose mistake proves to be the cause the end of a young man's police career. The police work is examined with accurate detail by the director who keeps things moving, getting his audience immersed in the story. One realizes not all the police work is non stop action.we watch the men for what they are, comrades in arms working to protect the citizens of their area. It also presents a human soul suffering, as is the case of Caroline, a woman whose life has known great suffering in her life and her struggle to keep away from drinking herself into oblivion.
Nathalie Baye makes an excellent, and complex, Caroline. One can sense her pain. She is mourning for a loss that was a terrible blow for a mother. Her becoming an alcoholic ruins her career until she decides to get over her self pity, returning to a job in which she excels. Ms Baye is seen experiencing emotions that one can identify with. Jalil Lespert's new police lieutenant credible. He is perfectly eager doing a job he always dreamed about. Roschy Zem keeps getting better all the time,as he shows here. Jacques Perrin has a small, but effective role as Caroline's old lover. The excellent supporting cast is a joy to watch in an ensemble effort.
One of the best police dramas I've ever seen
WilliamCKH10 May 2008
I'm not a huge fan of most police dramas because most of them are not realistically painted on the screen. There is a forced machoism about them that usually leaves me cold. This film "Le petit lieutenant" was an exception. The title character, a passionate young cop, just out of school, really seems to care about his work, the day to day routine of it. He seems to like his fellow colleagues, treats the criminals fairly humanely and doesn't mind that his boss is a middle-aged woman. There is no sexism, chauvinism, machoism, in his or his colleagues attitudes when doing their jobs. And there does seem to be a poetic sensibility in him that helps him cope with the horrors and/or tedium of the work. Everything about this movie, the pacing, the dialogue, the plot is very realistically presented and resonates deeply within you once the credits begin to roll. It is a very human story which treats all its characters with a great deal of compassion.
Excellent film
GORET17 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Of the check french cinema - a realism rarely seen in the cinema and a magnificent composition in particular Nathalie BAYE. The reality of the young provincial cop arriving in capital is striking of truth. We suffer from these stabs and we curse this youth which take this young cop towards his loss. That feels(smells) the INNKEEPER in L627... He(it) is striking of the truth considers. Bravo to the director and has his comedians. To see to understand(include) cop's realité!!! The motivations of this young policeman make can be dumped but very often have entrainé the vocation has numerous policemen.. Quotation blasé person of these colleagues experimented are just(right) and nevertheless law of caricatures usually conveyed. The Arabic cop who malgrè its speech in the meal of integrated policeman does not ring as the truth and the proof made it when he pushes aside(knocks down) l former(ancient) who treats him as Bicot towards the end of the film, denoting that everything is far from being a pink and this film evite this kind(genre) of cliché(picture) with correctness. The final silence Or we have l impression(printing) that Nathalie Baye wishes to speak to us is just bluffing has new. Anything n left at random and has to wonder how the realizer was so well able to make apparaitre the threads of this inequitable and thankless job.. The sink of The Seine linked with the grey of this history which never sinks into the every white or every Black
Very solid police drama featuring strong middle-aged woman lead
philipbn2 November 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Often French films use Anglo-American genres to interesting effect. This was as true of "A bout de soufflé" / "Breathless" and the cop movies of that period as it is here. I don't know Beauvois' (the director's) work very well, but here, as several comments have pointed out, he is using the conventions of the contemporary Anglo-Am "procedural" crime dramas (especially the various Helen Mirren ones). To me, the film succeeds and is quite enjoyable, largely thanks to very strong and striking performances by Jalil Lespert as the "young lieutenant" Antoine Derouere of the title, and Nathalie Baye in the role of his commanding officer, Commandant Vaudieu.
Both these actors are terrific. Lespert was great in the taut labor drama "Human Resources" (1999) and Baye is of course a major figure. With a fine supporting cast, they develop very strong characters and a moving drama that doesn't heroize or fetishize the police apparatus (as Anglo-American procedural films almost invariably do), but rather humanizes it and emphasizes the suffering and loss that it involves. Rather than magically resolving and banishing fears and social responsibility by projecting responsibility for crime onto irrational others, as Anglo-American police dramas do, this film recognizes the irreducible problems that police workers face, and dramatizes the lives of realistically-developed characters, not the fantasy figures that populate most dramas of this kind.
So yes, the film does refer to Anglo-Am procedural dramas and the Helen-Mirren type of character, but it develops these in very interesting ways that go beyond the Anglo-Am subgenre. Lespert and Baye deliver very strong performances, and the film is a good illustration of how some French directors and writers can take popular genres and give them twists that would be difficult to find in the English-language versions. No fantasy explosions or violence- or cadaver- porn, but a moving drama about human experience in a sadly violent social order.
Also, a great strong role for a middle-aged woman, which one doesn't see every day. This seemed to me one of Baye's stronger recent films.
Both these actors are terrific. Lespert was great in the taut labor drama "Human Resources" (1999) and Baye is of course a major figure. With a fine supporting cast, they develop very strong characters and a moving drama that doesn't heroize or fetishize the police apparatus (as Anglo-American procedural films almost invariably do), but rather humanizes it and emphasizes the suffering and loss that it involves. Rather than magically resolving and banishing fears and social responsibility by projecting responsibility for crime onto irrational others, as Anglo-American police dramas do, this film recognizes the irreducible problems that police workers face, and dramatizes the lives of realistically-developed characters, not the fantasy figures that populate most dramas of this kind.
So yes, the film does refer to Anglo-Am procedural dramas and the Helen-Mirren type of character, but it develops these in very interesting ways that go beyond the Anglo-Am subgenre. Lespert and Baye deliver very strong performances, and the film is a good illustration of how some French directors and writers can take popular genres and give them twists that would be difficult to find in the English-language versions. No fantasy explosions or violence- or cadaver- porn, but a moving drama about human experience in a sadly violent social order.
Also, a great strong role for a middle-aged woman, which one doesn't see every day. This seemed to me one of Baye's stronger recent films.
See also
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