Les Spécialistes (1985) - film review

Whilst being transferred to another prison, two convicts – Stéphane Carella and Paul Brandon – effect a miraculous escape.  They are pursued across the Verdon Gorge before arriving at an isolated farmhouse whose owner, Laura, offers them sanctuary.  Since the death of her husband, Laura has longed to get her own back on the police and she agrees to help Carella and Brandon in their scheme to rob a casino in Nice.  After a shoot out with the casino’s owners, Carella realises that not everything is what it seems.  Brandon is not what he appears...

After directing a string of popular comedies, such as Les Bronzés (1978), Patrice Leconte was eager to tackle another kind of film and gladly accepted an offer from producer Christian Fechner to direct a traditional policier.   Despite being the most ambitious project he had undertaken, Leconte proves himself a capable thriller director and the result is one of his most energetic, stylish and entertaining films.

The lead characters are played to perfection by Bernard Giraudeau and Gérard Lanvin, whose engaging on-screen rapport suggests something deeper than conventional male bonding.  It is a film that is as much about trust and friendship as it is a conventional heist movie, with the appropriated western style inviting similarities with Brokeback Mountain (2005).  Whilst appearing to stick doggedly to the conventions of the thriller genre, the film has a daring subtext:  the reason why the two butch heroes work together so well is because they are inextricably in love with one another.  Anyone expecting the two men to end up falling out over the plot’s token woman will be surprised; Leconte has an altogether more original resolution to a seemingly familiar French love triangle...

In most other respects, Les Spécialistes is pretty much a traditional thriller, with plenty of well-choreographed action stunts, car chases, shoot outs, and the like.  It’s largely routine stuff, but there are some moments of brilliance – notably the thrilling escape sequence at the start of the film.  The meticulous robbery has become a cliché, but Leconte succeeds in making what could have been a long-winded sequence both suspenseful and fascinating.  There’s also a great deal of fun – with Leconte gleefully parodying the American action thriller, with two-dimensional villains, madcap stunts and some unexpected plot twists.  It’s all total nonsense, but at least it’s enjoyable nonsense.

© James Travers 2006

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