Oh Mercy!

I was deeply bored by this however interesting film, a social drama, not a real pure crime flick although; a kind of Ed Mc Bain's novels atmosphere, the police procedural around a murder case, where Roschdy Zem could be a kind of Lieutnant Carella. I was bored because that's not my cup of tea. But that's ony a matter a taste. I prefered GARDE A VUE though. And POLISSE. There is here a tribute to LE CERCLE ROUGE with the lonely cop chaaracter living with a cat pet; remember Bourvil, in Jean Pierre Melville's masterpiece. And Lea Seydoux gives here another astotishing performance as a young lesbian, a kind of tribute of <hat she did in LA VIE D'ADELE, back in 2013. Good acting and directing, but not my kind of films.

After the screenplay disappointment of Persona non grata (2019) directed by Roschdy Zem and aired very recently in the French movie theaters, Roschdy Zem excels this time as an actor in this thriller/whodunit directed by Arnaud Desplechin. His aura is obvious. Without forgetting three other characters excellently interpreted: his right-hand man (Antoine Reinartz) and two John Doe as strange as shady (Léa Seydoux and Sara Forestier).

The film articulates around the daily life of the police station of Roubaix, in the North of France, between Lille and the Franco-Belgian border. Thus, two local events will occur concomitantly: a banal rape and a coldly abject murder. The film becomes magisterial during the interrogation between the police inspectors and the suspects and then the cross-examination, without necessarily equaling the quality and the intensity of The Grilling (1981).

As a synthesis: a pleiad of excellent actors in an unaccomplished film.

I saw this film before I saw the documentary film that was supposed to "inspire" this film. I say supposed, because an inspiration in my opinion is a starting point that we distort and around which we embroider, outside here it is rather an unassumed remake taking up word by word the documentary film and the details of the sets. Speaking of reality here, not a movie, making it an "identical remake with actresses is morally out of place. When I read the reviews about the script and and the storyline's irrelevance of unrelated business, or the quality claiming the film for an ethical police the arms fall to me. Watch the documentary film by Mosco Boucaut "Roubaix, central police station before criticizing this film, because they were content to do the same again but with actresses instead of real protagnists. Total nonsense ...

Commissar Yacoub Daoud knows his multicultural community. In fact he was one of those migrants himself once upon a time, but now calls northern France home. We follow him through his busy days on the job as he investigates a disappearance, an arson and a murder with some unexpected results.

Director Arnaud Desplechin does slightly provocative serious dramas with a lot of dialogue. He had had mixed results over the years, with his film Ismael's Ghosts being a confusing mess according to some. Here, however the artistry gives way to an intelligent cop movie, where the realism hits a sour spot. While OH MERCY! feels fresh, there's nothing innovative about its approach. This is how they made procedural police films in the 80's, only instead of Roschdy Zem you would have gotten Lino Ventura.

Talking about Roschdy Zem, this is one of the most versatile modern French actors, who has a unique presence in action, comedy or serious drama. He and Lea Seydoux, who plays one of the girls tangled in the murder investigation, carry the film forward, delivering intensity and realism. The movie is drastically different from what we are used to in cop dramas coming from USA, and this may be one of the good reasons to give it a try.

Roubaix is a real place, but after seeing this movie, you're not going to be packing your bits and moving there. It was once a thriving market town, then a nineteenth century industrial center (near Lille), and now it's a dumping ground for people who are not making it big in the exciting new Lille "Eurometropolis" (with its "Eurolille" business district), which also incorporates urban concentrations in Belgium. If this sounds like a socioeconomic lecture, that's because this movie "Oh Mercy!" looks like fieldwork, someone's research on urban decay. Heavy going? - I think you'll find that it is fairly heavy.

I persevered. Gradually the film developed focus on a particular crime: a murder. This is after we've watched overworked cops checking out a burned-out car, some domestic violence, a robbery, arson, and a serial rapist.

Roschdy Zem is a powerful presence as Commissaire Daoud, a rank about equivalent to detective-inspector (UK) or lieutenant of detectives (US). Lea Seydoux creates Claude, the dominant partner in a relationship. There's some classic "prisoner's dilemma" interplay. Sara Forestier does good work portraying Marie, seen by the detectives as the weak link - she has to try to withstand an unedifying interrogatory pressure. If you got through the first half of this film, you'll probably hang in there to find out how it ends.

These days Hollywood clings to comic book superheroes, video games material, corsetry costuming, and reworking formulas that succeeded last time. They don't make movies like "Oh Mercy!" But the film-financing structures of the EU allow space for a certain amount of "grim seriousness." If you're not sure that grim seriousness is your thing, then it probably isn't.