A French police magistrate spends years trying to take down one of the country's most powerful drug rings.
Director:
Cédric Jimenez
From metacritic.com
Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Jean Dujardin | ... | Pierre Michel | |
Gilles Lellouche | ... | Gaëtan 'Tany' Zampa | |
Céline Sallette | ... | Jacqueline Michel | |
Mélanie Doutey | ... | Christiane Zampa | |
Benoît Magimel | ... | Le Fou | |
Guillaume Gouix | ... | José Alvarez | |
Bruno Todeschini | ... | Le Banquier | |
Féodor Atkine | ... | Gaston Deferre | |
Moussa Maaskri | ... | Franky Manzoni | |
![]() |
Pierre Lopez | ... | Jean Paci |
![]() |
Eric Collado | ... | Robert |
![]() |
Cyril Lecomte | ... | Marco Da Costa |
![]() |
Jean-Pierre Sanchez | ... | Fabrizio Mandonato |
![]() |
Georges Neri | ... | Charles Peretti |
![]() |
Martial Bezot | ... | Le Gitan |
A French police magistrate spends years trying to take down one of the country's most powerful drug rings.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s drugs were flowing from Marseille to New York in a sophisticated and sustained operation. The Americans made two movies about the racket: "The French Connection" (1971) set in New York and "The French Connection II" (1975) located in Marseiiles, in both cases with Gene Hackman famously playing the police crime-buster. French cinema too has had two cracks at telling the story: first with "The Judge" (1984) and then with "The Connection" ("La French" in French) in 2014.
In the French films, the hero is not a policeman but a magistrate, in "The Connection" played by played by Jean Dujardin, best known outside France for his performance in the silent film "The Artist". The role of the chief criminal is taken by Gilles Lelouche. There is a short scene where the two meet alone which is reminiscent of the cafe scene between Al Pacino and Robert de Niro in "Heat". "The Connection" is not one of the the classics like "The French Connection" and "Heat" but it is a stylish, if clichéd, thriller with hand-held camera-work and atmospheric soundtrack adding to the impact.