Film Reviews

36 Quai des Orfevres

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Andre Dussollier
• Details: France, 110mins, 15.

When the captain of police vacates his position, two well-respected heads of their own departments in the Parisian police force - boozy Dennis Klein (Depardieu) and lawful Leo Vrinks (Auteuil) - both champion themselves for captaincy and the first one to bring in a ruthless gang of thieves that roam the city will be awarded the promotion. Although once friends, their lives have now taken different paths and as both attempt to vie for promotion, their efforts become increasingly ruthless. Backstabbing and double-crossings ensue and when Vrinks' wife (Golino) gets mixed up in the carnage, the gloves come off.
What Marchal is trying to do with his film is to show how even upstanding policemen can sink the violent depraved depths of a lunatic criminal when ego and social standings come into it and what results is a film that never really engages the viewer on a personal level. What starts out as a showy Luc Besson movie, turns into a cool and confident Heat but ends up looking like a student remake of LA Takedown. The story seems to be chasing itself throughout as one sequence leads to another without any real straightforward narrative thread. Auteuil, one of the finest actors alive today, seems out of sorts here as his screen persona doesn't lend itself to a tough-talking detective while Depardieu's character seems to have been only sketched out.

Review by Gavin Burke