À la petite semaine

Those of us with a long memory can remember Jean Gabin getting released from prison one morning and going home by bus. When he gets there, he's dumbfounded to see high-rise buildings all around him. Things have changed so much while he's been away (Mélodie en sous-sol, 1963). Henri Verneuil was a director who knew how to make us aware of the changes going on in his characters. Sam Karmann, on the other hand, just puts his actors through their paces with little regard for details--just look how clumsy the scene where Etienne Chicot shows Jacques Gamblin the jewelry is. A Melville, a Becker or a Corneau would have known how to create more interest for the viewer.

The story has to be carried by the actors, and what a fine crew they are. Gérard Lanvin as the just-released prisoner, Jacques Gamblin as an aspiring actor heading into middle age and Clovis Cornillac as the most impulsive, and self-destructive, crook in ages are all great to watch. Cornillac especially, as the muscle-bound, dopey Didier is a lot of fun; he reminds me of a French Ralph Meeker.

Some kind of tribute to the French films of the sixties or seventies, in the Michel Audiard genre. Good actors, French roots. Gerad Lanvin is awesome here in the role of an ex con just released from jail before meeting his former associates and gals. This film is worth only for its atmosphere and actors perfomances. The story itself leads no where, I warn you. This is not a crime movie despite the presence of those petty punks, some scenes simply from GOOD FELLAS, with some talking between hoodlums which is exactly the same of the Joe Pecci's sequence in the Marty Scorcese's film. Moving moments for apretty good little movie full of charm. We can also think of a kind of tribute to Claude Sautet's films, same characters symphony.

This is the second movie from actor Sam Karmann with a good cast (Gerard Lanvin, Jacques Gambling and Clovis Cornillac) for quite a simple story about two poor lost guys and another one who doesn't want to go back to jail.

Basically a stage actor and a close friend of the winning team Jean Pierre Bacri and Agnès Jaoui, Sam Karmann belatedly tried his hand at directing but the few works he left shouldn't be dismissed at all. "Kennedy et Moi" (1999) was the French "American Beauty" and an ideal cure for its director who had a breakdown prior to shoot it. Although it belongs to another cinematographic genre, "A la Petite Semaine" is every bit as good as its predecessor.

From a classy starting point, Karmann drew a respectable piece of work. Jacques (Gérard Lanvin) is released from prison and has decided to go straight. But his friend Francis (Jacques Gamblin), an actor who lives with his mother and an impulsive young man Didier (Clovis Cornillac) prepares a job. Jacques tries to make them renounce to their affair, it's no use. However, tangled up in their shady affairs, the two casual thieves will soon be caught in a downward spiral and Jacques might have a solution to save them...

Karmann's film encapsulates two genres and swings between them with fluidity: detective film and social comedy. By the use of key scenery (cafes), sharp dialogs and the type of story employed, his credentials are derived from José Giovanni, Jacques Becker and Michel Audiard. So he knows his classics and he's supported by his great threesome of actors even if I must say that I'm not a fan of Gamblin and Lanvin. The rest of the cast doesn't lie fallow either. The delineation of each secondary character is precise and has its importance in the representation of this rather dull but not despondent everyday life.

"A La Petite Semaine" is a throwback to good old popular cinema. How refreshing!

So, the policier is alive and well and living in Port de Clignacourt. Both the director and his two leading actors have tasty credits in such fare as Choice of Arms, La Balance, and, more mainstream, Les Gout des Autres and Laissez-Passer. Here the emphasis is on friendship and close-knit communities albeit criminal ones. Apart from the location shooting - and not too many tourists are hip to Northern Paris unless via a quick trip to the Sunday morning flea markets - what we savor here are the subtle touches; Jacques Gamblin, for example, as Francis, is still living at home with his mother despite his maturity (Gamblin himself is 46) and he has a somewhat secret life as a student in drama classes. At one point we see him acting a scene from what the French call 'Un Tramway nomme desir' (such is the referential power of Tennessee Williams, especially in France, it is unnecessary to state the name of the play either in French OR English), playing Stanley, and doing so quite well if anybody asks you. Of course the second male lead in 'Streetcar' was Mitch, Harold Mitchell, who also lived with his mother and was a gentle man despite hanging out with Stanley and the other 'tough' poker players. Francis is also 'tough' and has done his time in the joint but also has a feminine side. Both Gamblin and co-star Lanvin turn in top-class performances and there is a great sense of ensemble playing throughout. In sum: a very fair entry in the tradition of Melville and Corneau and it is not beyond the realm of possibility that Karmann could eventually corneau the market in polars.