Profil bas (1993) - film review

Despite an exemplary record as a police inspector, Julien Segal has become disillusioned with his career and is on the point of giving it all up.  His superior, Carre, persuades him to undertake a mission that will unmask a group of notorious drugs dealers.  Julien accepts, even though this means him infiltrating the gangster underworld.  He doesn’t realise that Carre intends using him as a scapegoat to conceal his own involvement in a massive drugs trafficking scheme.  When an attempt on his life fails, Julien becomes suspicious and hatches a plan to find out who is so keen to put him on the mortuary slab...

Popular actor-singer Patrick Bruel stars in this formulaic but otherwise watchable thriller from director Claude Zidi (better known for the Ripoux films).  The overly complicated plot is redeemed in part by some impressive action scenes, although the sentimentality is laid on a bit thick in places and the violence gets a bit sadistically gratuitous in parts.  Had this film been made a decade earlier, it’s likely that Jean-Paul Belmondo would have played the leading role.  Patrick Bruel may not have Belmondo’s physique or charisma, but his portrayal of the film’s hero is touchingly convincing, even if the tortuous plot isn’t.


© James Travers 2005

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