Un roman policier (2008) - film review

Lieutenant Emilie Carange leads a small police station in a suburban district with a high immigrant population.   After one of her officers is killed in a raid, she is assigned a trainee cop, Jamil Messaouden, and she wastes no time in indoctrinating him in her less than orthodox police methods.  Although Jamil is far from being the perfect recruit, the sexually frustrated Emilie finds him utterly desirable, and she finds it hard to conceal the fact.  Meanwhile, Viard, a more experienced cop in the anti-drugs squad, half-heartedly pursues an investigation into a drugs dealing ring.   Despite evidence from an old Arab woman, he seems unwilling to act.  But soon he and his team are caught up in an affair that will test their resources to the limit...

Whilst it occasionally struggles to get beyond the familiar clichés and at times comes across as a seriously low budget TV cop show, Un roman policier is a strangely compelling piece that brings a fresh, feminine perspective to a familiar genre.  In her first feature, director Stéphanie Duvivier crafts a distinctive film noir policier that succeeds in getting under the skin of its protagonists rather than being simply another formulaic crime drama.  The world that Duvivier draws us into, with her minimalist but highly effective mise-en-scène, is one that is unremittingly bleak, where racial tensions are as visible within the police service as they are between the police and the wider community.  This is no place for a woman, we may think.  Yet the main female character is the toughest of the lot, having to cope not only with the travails of her work, but also some pretty serious personal issues, not least of which is an infatuation with a junior colleague.     

That Un roman policier was made on a paltry budget is evident from its far from perfect presentation.  Yet this actually works to the film’s advantage and gives it a cold realism which is often lost in more expensive crime dramas where the director has more scope for fancy stylisation and escapist action sequences.  Unable to hire any big name actors, Duvivier cast instead some remarkably talented relative unknowns, all of whom are likely to become better known as a result of this film.  As the lead protagonists Emilie and Jamil,  Marie-Laure Descoureaux and Abdelhafid Metalsi both turn in a compelling, highly nuanced performance which subtly exposes their characters’ inner traumas.  Hiam Abbass and Théo Trifard are also worth mentioning for their arresting (no pun intended) supporting contributions.  The only cast member who is likely to be recognised by the majority of those who see the film is Olivier Marchal, although the script does not allow him to make much of an impression.   Whilst its production imperfections are all too visible, Un roman policier still manages to be an absorbing drama, one that takes us into some dark places that the policier genre has hitherto tended to avoid.  Stéphanie Duvivier shows immense promise as a director and we can expect to hear a great deal more about her, and her leading actors Descoureaux and Metalsi, in the years to come.

© James Travers 2011

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