Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 (2008)
"L'ennemi public n°1" (original title)

The story of notorious French gangster Jacques Mesrine.

Director:

Jean-François Richet

Writers:

Abdel Raouf Dafri (scenario), Abdel Raouf Dafri (adaptation),

Stars:

Vincent Cassel, Ludivine Sagnier, Mathieu Amalric

7 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vincent Cassel	...	Jacques Mesrine
Ludivine Sagnier	...	Sylvia Jeanjacquot
Mathieu Amalric	...	François Besse
Samuel Le Bihan	...	Michel Ardouin
Gérard Lanvin	...	Charlie Bauer
Olivier Gourmet	...	Le commissaire Broussard
Georges Wilson	...	Henri Lelièvre
Michel Duchaussoy	...	Le père de Jacques Mesrine
Anne Consigny	...	L'avocate de Jacques Mesrine
Laure Marsac	...	La journaliste interview
Alain Fromager	...	Jacques Dallier - journaliste pour Minute
Alain Doutey	...	Le président du tribunal à Compiègne
Arsène Mosca	...	Jojo - un policier
Christophe Vandevelde	...	Inspecteur Gégé
Luc Thuillier	...	Le commissaire OCRB / Lucien Aimé-Blanc

Storyline

The story of Jacques Mesrine, France's public enemy No. 1 during the 1970s. After nearly two decades of legendary criminal feats -- from multiple bank robberies and to prison breaks -- Mesrine was gunned down by the French police in Paris.

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Plot Keywords:

mesrine | bank robbery | gangster | 1970s | prison | 

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Genres:

Action | Biography | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody brutal violence, a scene of sexuality, nudity and pervasive language

Details

Official Sites:

Music Box Films Site [us] Pathé Distribution [fr]

Country:

France Canada

Language:

English French

Release Date:

19 November 2008 (France)

Also Known As:

Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1

Filming Locations:

Algeria

Box Office

Budget:

€21,166,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$100,242 (USA) (3 September 2010)

Gross:

$275,125 (USA) (11 February 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

La Petite Reine, M6 Films, Remstar Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

133 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Benoît Magimel, who was at one time set to star, stepped down from the Mesrine project without informing producer Thomas Langmann, choosing instead to issue a press release. As a result of this a fight erupted on November 25th 2004 at the Intertalent talent agency between Langmann and Magimel's agent, François Samuelson, where Langmann headbutted Samuelson and broke his nose. Samuelson was on sick leave for nine days and pressed charges against Langmann.

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Goofs

Mesrine, Bauer and Tillier are near a newsstand. Beside, there is a street plan in which a Ford Ka is reflected. A bit later, the three men get into a car which is parked 20 m in frond of a Renault Express. Both these cars were launched later than 1970s (1986 for Renault, 1996 for Ford).

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Quotes

La journaliste interview: [Begins interview] Why are you doing this?
Jacques Mesrine: [long pause] Because I don't like laws.
Jacques Mesrine: I don't like the laws and I don't want to be a slave of the alarm clock my whole life.
Jacques Mesrine: I don't want to spend my entire life dreaming. I don't want to always think how I have to work half a year just so I could buy some thing.
La journaliste interview: What do you expect from your life? Recognition? Money?
Jacques Mesrine: [chuckles] What a question! Money, money, money... all of you just keep talking about it, always the same. But I'm completely different.
Jacques Mesrine: ...
[...]

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Connections

Follows Mesrine: Killer Instinct (2008)

User Reviews

A worthy follow up to Death instinct

All in all, i highly enjoyable and competent work from Richet, he truly captured Mesrine animal like charisma, his rebellious and determined character, his savagery and his sense of humor. Cassel did a amazing job as well, he's so impressive, funny and scary, idealist and cynical, he really brings it all on screen. One really as to salute Richet's accomplishment here, the pressure on him was huge, Mesrine is truly France's "Scarface" (only here it's for real !), known by all and fascinating as hell, i mean the guy was a superstar, a media freak who wonderfully played with the media to get some kind of support from the population and ridicule the system and the government, and he almost reached his goals! Now i just cant wait for the BR to arrive, so i can watch both movies consecutively and confirm my first impression, which is that Richet has done something huge, exiting and impressive, un coup de maître if you will !