Les Mauvais joueurs (2005)
Directed by Frédéric Balekdjian

Film Review

Les Mauvais joueurs is the first full-length film from French director Frédéric Balekdjian, a Martin Scorsese-inspired crime-drama set in Paris's densely populated immigrant quarter, Le Sentier. Being of Armenian origin himself, Balekdjian had some obvious sympathy with the subject of his film and in both his writing and mise-en-scène he shows some promise.  Where he is most successful is in getting across the abject vulnerability of immigrants struggling to survive in present-day France, a country that has become increasingly hostile to outsiders in recent years.  Immigration continues to be a hot topic for the French and has been the subject of numerous films of late - from Abdellatif Kechiche's La Faute à Voltaire (2000) to Philippe Lioret's Welcome (2009). 

Where the film falls down is with a hackneyed plot that is positively awash with well-worn clichés. On the plus side, there are some credible performances - Pascal Elbé and Simon Abkarian are both excellent and give the film a real dynamism and authenticity - but the threadbare script offers little in the way of plausible characterisation. At times, the narrative feels painfully contrived and mechanical, with most of the characters reduced to stock archetypes as they slide down an all-too predictable trajectory towards disaster. After a satisfactory, albeit pretty aimless, first half, Les Mauvais joueurs closes as a rather disappointing ambling variant of the classic gangster film, sacrificing depth and realism for the tired convenience of an unimaginative genre concept.

Frédéric Balekdjian's next directorial offering, Un monde à nous (2008), an intimate drama about a father and his son, is a far more considered and laudable film that avoids most of the failings of his debut offering.  Then, in 2014, the director went on to turn in some notable work on two popular television series - Kaboul Kitchen and Spiral.

Film Synopsis

Vahé Krikorian is an Armenian immigrant who lives in the crowded Sentier district of Paris.  Crippled with debts, his father is forced to close the shop where he works and so, to make ends meet, he resorts to playing three card tricks with Sahak and his brother Toros.  His woes are compounded when his girlfriend Lu Ann walks out on him and the latter's brother, Yuen, shows up unexpectedly as an illegal immigrant.  Yuen reneges on a deal he made with the people traffickers who smuggled him into France and risks getting himself into deep water as a result.  Realising the danger that he is in, Vahé takes Yuen's side, but in doing so he alienates himself from his old friends and ends up having to take on a very dangerous adversary...