Police (1985) - film review

A rough police inspector, Mangin, is determined to smash a drugs trafficking syndicate operating between Paris and Marseilles.  By ruthlessly hassling his informants, he gains the evidence he needs to arrest a Tunisian drugs baron, Simon, and his girlfriend Noria.   The latter is released thanks to the intervention of her lawyer, Lambert, but not before attracting Mangin’s interest.  As Mangin pursues her, driven by an uncontrollable animalistic attraction, Noria hatches a scheme to run off with Simon’s bounty…

Maurice Pialat’s most improbable film is this daring variation on the film noir thriller genre, which strangely presages the tough post-noir thrillers of the 1990s.  Although the characters and the plot are familiar cinema stock, Pialat gives the formula a striking and stylish slant by allowing his cast to improvise much of their material.  This approach gives the drama a natural spontaneity and allows both of the lead actors Gérard Depardieu and Sophie Marceau to give an exhilarating and convincing performance.  The film’s naturalistic, unpolished style and absence of any clear moral perspective makes it a shockingly realistic depiction of the criminal underworld and police brutality.

© James Travers 2003

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