Police (1985)

A moody, jaded police detective, while investigating a drug ring, falls for a mysterious woman and is drawn into a shady and dangerous scheme.

Director:

Maurice Pialat

Writers:

Catherine Breillat (based on an original idea by), Catherine Breillat (scenario, adaptation and dialogue)

Stars:

Gérard Depardieu, Sophie Marceau, Richard Anconina

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gérard Depardieu	...	Louis Vincent Mangin
Sophie Marceau	...	Noria
Richard Anconina	...	Lambert
Pascale Rocard	...	Marie Vedret
Sandrine Bonnaire	...	Lydie
Franck Karoui	...	René
Jonathan Leïna	...	Simon
Jacques Mathou	...	Gauthier
Bernard Fuzellier	...	Nez Cassé
Bentahar Meaachou	...	Claude (as Meaachou Bentahar)
Yann Dedet	...	Dédé
Mohamed Ayari	...	Momo
Abdel Kader Touati	...	Maxime
Jamil Bouarada	...	Jean
Bechir Idani	...	Barman René

Storyline

Mangin, a police inspector in Paris, leans hard on informants to get evidence on three Tunisian brothers who traffic in drugs. He arrests one, Simon, and his girl-friend Noria. Simon's brothers go to their lawyer. He springs Noria, who promptly steals 2 million francs that belong to the Tunisians. They suspect her of the theft; her life as well as the lawyer's is in danger. Meanwhile, Noria is playing with both the lawyer and Mangin's affections. Mangin is mercurial anyway: intimidating and bloodying suspects, falling for a police commission trainee before flipping for Noria, wearing his emotions on his sleeve. Can he save the lawyer and Noria, and can he convince her to love?

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Plot Keywords:

criminal underworld | tough cop | stolen drugs | french arab | police interrogation | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

4 September 1985 (France)

Also Known As:

Polícia

Filming Locations:

Rue Riquet, Paris 19, Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

FRF 25,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gaumont,TF1 Films Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Le ciel étoilé au-dessus de ma tête (2017)

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Soundtracks

LES ZOMBIS
Jean-Michel Cabrimol
John Henry
(Musique boîte de nuit)

User Reviews

Flawed film anchored by one of Depardieu's best ever performances

French director Maurice Pialat mixes his usual approach of dialogue- heavy improvisation and his own slightly twisted sense of 'realism' with the police procedural genre. Anchoring Police is the formidable Gerard Depardieu playing Inspector Mangin, a chunky pitbull of a man who mixes charm, playfulness and violence together as he plays his way through the crime-fighting game with equal amounts of efficiency and carelessness. Pialat's camera, loose and restless, seems fascinated by him, and Depardieu's performance devours the film, overshadowing the director's themes of loneliness and criminality in France.

The first two-thirds of Police are it's best, as Mangin is caught up investigating a bunch of Tunisian drug-dealing criminals, and has his eye caught by the doe-eyed and beautiful Noria (Sophie Marceau), the girlfriend of one of the chief suspects. It's in these early scenes that Mangin is off the leash, slamming suspects heads into tables as a manner of interrogation, and, outside of work, joking with his friend Lambert (Richard Anconina), the criminal lawyer for most of the scumbags that Mangin puts away. Lambert is good at what he does, and most of his clients get off, yet he and Mangin laugh and joke about the system. It's all just a game to Mangin, something for him to do in order to satisfy his many appetites, as the line between the police and criminals is blurred.

Then Police settles down somewhat, as Noria turns from frightened innocent to fully-fledged femme fatale. She gets herself involved in a stolen wad of cash, and suddenly no-one is safe. Mangin is slowly revealed to be a lonely widower, and the film loses it's momentum. The fast dialogue and the murky world of pushers, pimps and prostitutes fades in favour of long takes in empty rooms, and Mangin suddenly isn't as interesting as he was. Sometimes it's better to prolong the mystery, to keep a character's motivations skewed. But Police is still a great ride, featuring one of Depardieu's best ever performances.

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