Spécial police (1985)
Directed by Michel Vianey

Film Review

Richard Berry and Carole Bouquet star in this stylish but unevenly paced (and painfully formulaic) action thriller, directed by Michel Vianey.  Berry and Vianey had previously worked together on a similar thriller, Un assassin qui passé (1981).  Whilst Berry and Bouquet are individually rather good in the film, they appear uncomfortable together, and their lack of on-screen chemistry is what prevents the film from having the human dimension it desperately needs.  The action scenes are well choreographed but this cannot make up for a creaking script which is over-reliant on ludicrously improbable plot developments.

Film Synopsis

By hiding herself in the cellar, Isabelle Rodin just manages to avoid the fate of her brother Robin and his wife, both murdered by unknown assassins one evening.  Unable to make any sense of what has happened, Isabelle immediately gets in touch with a friend of Robin's, a former cop named David Ackerman.  The latter has given up ordinary police work and now works in the police laboratories on scientific research.  Although he is reluctant to get drawn back into his old life, David is sufficiently intrigued by Isabelle's story that he feels he must investigate, if only to avenge the death of a good friend.

David soon discovers that Robin was mixed up with an ultra-secret political group that had acquired damning evidence against some high-ranking public figures.  To prevent their criminal exploits (drugs trafficking and illegal arms dealing) from coming to light, the latter would be prepared to do anything to silence their opponents - even resort to murder.  Realising that he is getting into very deep water, David places Isabelle in the care of his ex-wife Julie, who becomes the killers' next victim.  Now that the contest has become personal, David throws himself into his private investigation with a vengeance, determined not only to find the killers but to expose their powerful paymasters.  In this he is helped not only by his scientific training, but also by a young Chinese computer whizzkid...