"Novembre" or "November" is a really new French movie that had its wide release in its production country only in early October 2022, so less than three weeks ago, and the release here in Germany was even more recent. So you see I took one of the first chances I got to see this one and that has mostly to do with lead actor and Oscar winner Jean Dujardin here. He has so much charisma and it is always nice to see him in the movies, so I must say still that after having watched the outcome here, I found it a bit disappointing that his screen time is limited and there could have been so much more to his character. The revelation at the start was kinda cool when he removes his mask, but this is almost the only scene you remember about him. Maybe another scene would be the one deep into the movie already when he physically attacks a suspect and loses his cool for a moment in the face of the really demanding and dangerous situation. There were even talks of other attacks happening soon. But I am deep into the story now already, so for now let us instead stay with the very basics: The director and one of the three writers is Cédric Jimenez. He is in his mid40s now and has been really prolific in the last decade with shooting one new film every two or three years. As this one here will make it into his most famous releases at this point for sure, he will probably keep going with said rhythm. His co-writers are a bit different. Olivier Demangel is extremely prolific and has worked on a lot more than Jimenez, while the other, James Benjamin Shannon, is not new to the industry, but has not written a lot before and also worked in some other departments.
Huge French film buffs will probably recognize other names and faces here. I will not go into detail about all the actors as you can check the cast list for yourself, but most of them are relatively experienced. This also includes the younger ones. The most memorable supporting performance perhaps came from Lyna Khoudri and I will admit I am partially saying this also because she is pretty stunning. Wes Anderson probably agrees. But now, let us look into the story and plot here and who the characters are: This film is about the Paris terrorist attacks from November 2015. It starts way earlier when we see how an anti terrorism-unit lead by the field agent played by Dujardin is really close to catching one of the guys linked to said terrorist attacks. Those happened all over the city. Stade de France was one key location with a football game taking place and you could hear the explosion(s) outside the stadium if you were watching that night, but the terrorists did not get past security. The biggest nightmare happened at the Bataclan concert location though with a triple-digit amount of people dead. Real tragedy, real massacre. So this location is also mentioned on a few occasions throughout the film. We get to watch the direct aftermath, the days after the terrorist attacks and how the anti-terrorism unit is giving their everything to find the ones who did it. Sleep deprivation had to happen. Of course, they succeed in the end, but it is a long road until they got there. Many mishaps were part of it. One example would be when there during the evening of the attacks they realize there is a false alarm. Another example would be when they arrest a suspect that is actually one of their own, namely an undercover agent. They also need coincidence to help them when a young woman contacts them and tells them about their connection with the terrorists. We also find out how posing as homeless under a bridge is a great way to stay under the radar.
Overall, I think this film has some flaws and the really good moments like also how the agents are on a plane when the attacks happen and they return immediately are not as frequent as they could have been and this could have been a much better film given the subject this is about and how there was really great potential for a film that could have had you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. It did not happen though. Instead, the 100 minutes sometimes feel lacking focus a bit. Despite the talented cast. I am still glad this film got made. It takes a bit of courage nowadays with the political climate to make movies that include a story where the followers of Islam are the bad guys. Obviously, not all of them as for example Khoudri's character was a good character and not an evil one, but still. Just look at my country and how nobody dares to make a film that is about the Breitscheidplatz Christmas market terrorist attack and that happened in 2016, so also over five years ago now. German filmmakers are especially cautious, almost on a cowardly level, when it comes to making films that go against the mainstream. But they could not agree more quickly to deliver when it is about making movies that are against right-wing terrorism. I mean this is totally fine and also an important subject and it is good these films get made as long as the quality is there, which is sadly far from always the case, but that should surprise nobody given the sheer quantity of German movies elaborating on this subject. However, the proportions are just ridiculous. That is another story though. Now let us focus on this film here again instead: There is still a lot that can be mentioned. Just let me do some brainstorming. I must say Demoustier's character disappointed me a bit here. She had a lot of screen time, but the material just never felt in a way for her to make an impact, so she was filler material despite portraying a key character. Same is somewhat true here for most other characters with more than just a few seconds screen time. Great writing this film certainly did not have.
I am not really sure how close it was to the actual events and investigations back then in terms of how it depicted them, but if it was at least realistic, then I am okay with it not being the thrill ride I hoped it could be. The scene with the two women on the balcony towards the end was kinda touching though. We could guess from her words that one of them would die and this is also what happened. The way it happened was sad too with how she wanted to get out, but is killed before she can. Oh yeah, I also felt bad for the dog that was sent inside and killed as well, even if this move made sense I guess from the perspective of the special unit up there in the house. It was only (or "only") the life of an animal, still it hurt to hear it whimper. In general, I would say that the film maybe struggled a bit with the sheer quantity of characters too. Sure, we have the investigators at the center of the story, but there is also the one who gave the arms to the terrorists, there is the uncle(?) that would only talk to Dujardin's character, there's the two women towards the end, there is the one they arrest who was part of it all, but not one of the killers, there's brief talks to the surviving victims of the attack and this is where the interesting mention of these bright orange shoes got in, there is one of the investigators talking to an Islamic preacher (again to show us they are not all bad and dangerous) and in addition to all of those, there is probably also several others that I forgot already, but they are also featured briefly, so many characters in here who have one scene only, maybe two, but are not vital parts of the story. The two main antagonists inside the apartment towards the end we do not even see, but the amount of shots fired there is definitely a special effects highlight from this movie and same applies to the explosion that happened right afterwards caused by the villains. You could really say that the film ended with a bang. Like literally.
I mean it is surely alright that this is not really an actors movie and not a deep character study in terms of individuals and we for example know absolutely nothing about the personal backgrounds of the investigators and that is fine. This should be all about the attacks and the aftermath and the investigation and this is what the movie deals with indeed. But somehow something is missing unfortunately to make it a really exciting watch. Difficult to point out what exactly. I still give the outcome a thumbs-up as a whole and yet it is not an enthusiastic thumbs-up at all. Also looking how almost every single film Jimenez made before this one here had a connection to police work, to terrorism, to absolute evil etc., I kinda felt he could come up with something of better quality here. However, while the investigators we follow eventually manage to create connections between all the persons of interest and get rid of all the question marks - and we literally see how they do on the board with these red threads, Jimenez did not manage the same with his most recent film here. At least not to a highly convincing degree. I suggest you go for watching this one after you have seen all the other superior films on the subject of terrorism.
Huge French film buffs will probably recognize other names and faces here. I will not go into detail about all the actors as you can check the cast list for yourself, but most of them are relatively experienced. This also includes the younger ones. The most memorable supporting performance perhaps came from Lyna Khoudri and I will admit I am partially saying this also because she is pretty stunning. Wes Anderson probably agrees. But now, let us look into the story and plot here and who the characters are: This film is about the Paris terrorist attacks from November 2015. It starts way earlier when we see how an anti terrorism-unit lead by the field agent played by Dujardin is really close to catching one of the guys linked to said terrorist attacks. Those happened all over the city. Stade de France was one key location with a football game taking place and you could hear the explosion(s) outside the stadium if you were watching that night, but the terrorists did not get past security. The biggest nightmare happened at the Bataclan concert location though with a triple-digit amount of people dead. Real tragedy, real massacre. So this location is also mentioned on a few occasions throughout the film. We get to watch the direct aftermath, the days after the terrorist attacks and how the anti-terrorism unit is giving their everything to find the ones who did it. Sleep deprivation had to happen. Of course, they succeed in the end, but it is a long road until they got there. Many mishaps were part of it. One example would be when there during the evening of the attacks they realize there is a false alarm. Another example would be when they arrest a suspect that is actually one of their own, namely an undercover agent. They also need coincidence to help them when a young woman contacts them and tells them about their connection with the terrorists. We also find out how posing as homeless under a bridge is a great way to stay under the radar.
Overall, I think this film has some flaws and the really good moments like also how the agents are on a plane when the attacks happen and they return immediately are not as frequent as they could have been and this could have been a much better film given the subject this is about and how there was really great potential for a film that could have had you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. It did not happen though. Instead, the 100 minutes sometimes feel lacking focus a bit. Despite the talented cast. I am still glad this film got made. It takes a bit of courage nowadays with the political climate to make movies that include a story where the followers of Islam are the bad guys. Obviously, not all of them as for example Khoudri's character was a good character and not an evil one, but still. Just look at my country and how nobody dares to make a film that is about the Breitscheidplatz Christmas market terrorist attack and that happened in 2016, so also over five years ago now. German filmmakers are especially cautious, almost on a cowardly level, when it comes to making films that go against the mainstream. But they could not agree more quickly to deliver when it is about making movies that are against right-wing terrorism. I mean this is totally fine and also an important subject and it is good these films get made as long as the quality is there, which is sadly far from always the case, but that should surprise nobody given the sheer quantity of German movies elaborating on this subject. However, the proportions are just ridiculous. That is another story though. Now let us focus on this film here again instead: There is still a lot that can be mentioned. Just let me do some brainstorming. I must say Demoustier's character disappointed me a bit here. She had a lot of screen time, but the material just never felt in a way for her to make an impact, so she was filler material despite portraying a key character. Same is somewhat true here for most other characters with more than just a few seconds screen time. Great writing this film certainly did not have.
I am not really sure how close it was to the actual events and investigations back then in terms of how it depicted them, but if it was at least realistic, then I am okay with it not being the thrill ride I hoped it could be. The scene with the two women on the balcony towards the end was kinda touching though. We could guess from her words that one of them would die and this is also what happened. The way it happened was sad too with how she wanted to get out, but is killed before she can. Oh yeah, I also felt bad for the dog that was sent inside and killed as well, even if this move made sense I guess from the perspective of the special unit up there in the house. It was only (or "only") the life of an animal, still it hurt to hear it whimper. In general, I would say that the film maybe struggled a bit with the sheer quantity of characters too. Sure, we have the investigators at the center of the story, but there is also the one who gave the arms to the terrorists, there is the uncle(?) that would only talk to Dujardin's character, there's the two women towards the end, there is the one they arrest who was part of it all, but not one of the killers, there's brief talks to the surviving victims of the attack and this is where the interesting mention of these bright orange shoes got in, there is one of the investigators talking to an Islamic preacher (again to show us they are not all bad and dangerous) and in addition to all of those, there is probably also several others that I forgot already, but they are also featured briefly, so many characters in here who have one scene only, maybe two, but are not vital parts of the story. The two main antagonists inside the apartment towards the end we do not even see, but the amount of shots fired there is definitely a special effects highlight from this movie and same applies to the explosion that happened right afterwards caused by the villains. You could really say that the film ended with a bang. Like literally.
I mean it is surely alright that this is not really an actors movie and not a deep character study in terms of individuals and we for example know absolutely nothing about the personal backgrounds of the investigators and that is fine. This should be all about the attacks and the aftermath and the investigation and this is what the movie deals with indeed. But somehow something is missing unfortunately to make it a really exciting watch. Difficult to point out what exactly. I still give the outcome a thumbs-up as a whole and yet it is not an enthusiastic thumbs-up at all. Also looking how almost every single film Jimenez made before this one here had a connection to police work, to terrorism, to absolute evil etc., I kinda felt he could come up with something of better quality here. However, while the investigators we follow eventually manage to create connections between all the persons of interest and get rid of all the question marks - and we literally see how they do on the board with these red threads, Jimenez did not manage the same with his most recent film here. At least not to a highly convincing degree. I suggest you go for watching this one after you have seen all the other superior films on the subject of terrorism.