SnoopyStyle
In grimy Marseilles, drunken disheveled Detective Louis Schneider is arrested for hijacking a bus. The driver told him to sit down which got him to pull out his gun. A car accident left his daughter dead and his wife despondent. He is relegated to work the night shift. Unrepetent killer Charles Subra is getting probation. Survivor Justine Maxence approaches arresting detective Schneider from those years ago for help. There is a serial killer on the loose. There is also a cover-up and Schneider is hounded to quit.Daniel Auteuil is acting through his scruffy appearance and his dangling cigarettes. He is so good at being world weary that the movie in general is drained of life. It's all grim and crumbling without any tension. The disjointed storytelling with the constant flashbacks to the same incident gets a bit tiresome. This movie has the moody style but the flow needs to be more compelling. I think I almost like this movie.
gsskimsing
I watched Olivier Marchal's Department 36 and Tell No One a few years ago, and this movie clinches it. Watching Marchal's movies is like eating a soufflé' - pretty to look at, full of volume but devoid of substance. Being a former cop, he explores the sinister underbelly of police corruption and complacency as he did in Department 36, with the jaded anti-hero battling to survive despite the odds. But Auteil's character goes about his work with such incompetency as shown in his arrest of the serial killer that it's difficult to find any empathy for him, and you think his superiors have a point in treating him like the loser he is. The plot is a mishmash of themes poorly explored and laced with so many inconsistencies made even worse by the film's pretentious grandeur.
dbdumonteil
Some movies are saved by their actors.To write that the movie is derivative is to state the obvious .It borrows from many of the American thrillers of the nineties ,the inmate (notably) is another reincarnation of Hannibal. Fortunately,no Clarice,but Justine ,daughter of his victims ,whose part is the most interesting of the whole movie.Her commitment to her grandpa is extraordinary and the scene of the mass for the dead rings true .Her relationship with the hero is more conventional but the viewer really needed some sunlight breaking out.A hero who has perhaps never deserved more to be called anti hero.It takes a lot of nerve ,a lot of genius and a lot of courage to play such a demeaning part of a fallen cop,who smells urine and alcohol ,with an haggard face who seems to have suffered his misfortunes without complain. Daniel Auteuil is ,much more than Depardieu,to the French cinema what Jean Gabin was half a century ago and besides he ages more gracefully .This part and that of Nicole Garcia's "L'Adversaire" are among his finest performances.The only thing that's lacking is a firm strong screenplay.This one is a bit desultory ,but who cares?Auteuil carries the movie on his shoulders ,with fine support by Olivia Bonamy.Well I stepped into an avalanche,it covered up my soul..... (L.C.)
Whadever
This movie should not be rated for its plot, or the good guys vs bad guys, or any other standard used to rate normal movies. This movie is an homage. An homage to the suffering, the courage and the lives of the real people on which the story is based.Every aspect of this film breathes with the same deep respect for what happened. The reality it brings into the room takes your breath away... You cannot watch this movie and escape its grasp.Daniel Auteuil and everyone else in the cast did their jobs with dignity. They played their roles the way they should be played and the aftertaste is bitter... but filled with reverence.Watch this movie without reading the plot. Let it happen to you, expect nothing and allow yourself to care.I'm sure you'll agree; 10 out of 10. Easily.
AD
