The Young Lieutenant

This is the procedure school. It starts as a rather hectic story about the young policeman starting his job in a hectic Paris and ends in a classic British murder case, as it's seen in many many TV productions from BBC.

But the Parisian police force is shown as real human beings this time, including alcohol problems, which is quite rare in French movies. The French attitude to alcohol has always been that there never can be any problems about it, because we're French. Anyway, after a while the movie is focused on the female Captain instead of the young copper. There's one main character in the beginning of the film and another at the end.

Rather OK as police movie, but rather soon to be forgotten anyway.

A young tough guy, eager to be a real cop solving real crime, and to be really cool. A middle-aged woman, alone, with personal problems but well organized and effective. Put these two together in a big city ("the jungle") in some cheesy office rooms, and you may expect to see another cliché cop-movie. But you're wrong.

First of all, this film contains not much action at all. The murder that things evolve around is not the main attraction, it is more of a catalyst for the development of the humans on screen. Furthermore, there is no music to "guide" us emotionally, and no extreme display of emotions (or overacting) as is so common. Instead we follow the characters at distance, but emotions are there, but like in real life, poorly articulated and often ambiguous. And the less glamorous work of attending an autopsy, and reactions to it, is also shown; just the sound is disgusting, and that scene of the film has for me a really artistic feeling to it: it highlights the "fleshy-ness" of the body, that it is not just an abstract piece in life, but something bulky, ugly, imperfect and vulnerable, which is quite a contrast to how the young tough guy probably considers himself.

These aspects together means that the film is more real. That does not have to be an advantage for a film - good film rarely limit itself to a display of reality. But to follow the development of the characters, their life and work, from a distance, sometimes with some police action added, as you do in a very precise way in this film, is very rewarding. This is a good drama with action content.

As in previous Beauvois' movies, this film is about loss. The loss is everywhere in the movie : the loss of the dead child of the main female character, the loss of a normal couple life for the "petit lieutenant" and, finally, his loss. What makes the movie so interesting is the way in which it uses the form of the cope movie (film noir) as a way to reflect the hardships of living with the memory of the dead, to go on while things are forever changed by their disappearance. At the same time, the form of the cope movie is more than a mere pretext: the director is very much at ease with the conventions of the genre and is very skillful at going beyond by adding stunning realistic elements. There is no heroism there, only gloom and despair. No big man hunt, but a very trivial one. A very good movie. A must see for lovers of french film noir.

Le Petit Lieutenant makes Eastern Promises look like the mediocre knock off it is. "Eastern..." has nothing substantial to offer beyond a couple of signature scenes and is ultimately forgettable after the echo of its posturing and violence subside (can't really understand why the critics adore Cronenberg so much), and it is no more evident than when I compare his film to another that works so much better, like Le Petit Lieutenant (an 8 1/2 out of 10)

Both are dramas that operate fully within the "crime genre," but whereas there is very little that is original or compelling beyond the dramatic pretense of Eastern Promises, the French film is rich with characterizations and direction that lend depth to its realistic story. Whereas "Eastern..." creates slick, hip Hollywood scenes that tease and gratify our primal senses without really engaging any of its real dilemmas, "Petit..." draws us in (via a casual documentary like style) to the life of a young detective just out of cadet school who is becoming familiar with his co-workers and line of work on the streets of Paris. It is through him and his interactions with everything around him that we begin to experience something more dramatic, almost without realizing it, until the tragedy of common (rather than postured) occurrence invades our psyche, and plays out amidst a suspense created by the tension of anxiety, anguish, and inner strength of his chief inspector (a woman), portrayed with great humanity by Nathalie Baye.

Like all Hollywood movies, Eastern Promises offers the semblance of real drama at the beginning, only to abandon its stories and characters as it lapses into the improbability and titillation we have all grown accustomed to at the cinema. The french film, on the other hand, demonstrates its concern for the people it has given life to by engaging our own humanity rather than our anticipation of the next thrill that lies around the corner....

your cinewest correspondent

A young lieutenant, fresh from school, starts in Paris in a homicide squad. He grew up in Le Havre, where his wife still teaches at school. He misses her and tries to get her to move to Paris too. His boss is a very good police inspector, who just returns to the police after having dropped for personal reasons. She had lost her only son and became an alcoholic. Now she is clean and takes over a new group. Soon they have to investigate the murder of a homeless person. The search for the killer brings big dangers for most of the group, but specially for the lieutenant and his boss.

The film shows some everyday routine of police work and how the officers enjoy themselves after their day is done. There are no big things going on, even the murder case is not very special. It is the personal situation of the two main characters that involves the interest of the audience. Well done, though not really great. 7 out of 10.