Ripoux contre ripoux (1990) - film review

After five years of partnership with his fellow crooked policeman, René, François decides to go straight, in the hope of getting a promotion to the rank of commissioner.  Unfortunately, François’ first attempt at changing his habits backfires, and he and René are suspended when a charge is brought against them.  They are replaced by Brisson and Portal, a pair of no-nonsense cops who, at first sight, appear to be the very model of honesty.  It soon turns out that these two are ten times more ruthless than René and François.  Desperate, the people they attempt to extort money from appeal to René and François to put an end to their replacements’ reign of villainy.  François says he will take on the challenge, but René soon suspects that his former partner may actually be allying himself with his unscrupulous successors...

Dynamic duo Philippe Noiret and Thierry Lhermitte are reunited in this respectable sequel to the 1984 hit Les Ripoux.  Both films satirise perceived corruption in the French police service, with Noiret and Lhermitte playing a pair of lovable rogues, under the skilful direction of Claude Zidi.   This is a nice variation on the policier theme, where the good guys are cops gone bad (the word "ripoux" is slang for "rotten" in French), but not so bad as the real villains of the piece.

Noiret and Lhermitte are both respectable actors in their own right but together they excel, making a very effective team as René and François; René’s half-hearted cynicism complement beautifully François’ flawed idealism.  Both characters are well-drawn, fashioned on the morally ambiguous hero of classical film noir, although, here, the boundaries between good and bad are well and truly merged.  It is this ambiguity which provides the film with a fair amount of suspense and keeps its audience well and truly hooked.

The supporting cast is also quite impressive, with pleasing contributions from Guy Marchand, Jean-Pierre Castaldi, Michel Aumont and Jean-Claude Brialy.   As in the first Ripoux outing, the script is the film’s best asset, with a well-paced narrative and some very funny one-liners making this an enjoyable and diverting piece of cinema.

© James Travers 2003

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