LES LYONNAIS


France, 2011, 102 minutes, Colour.
Gerard Lanvin, Tcheky Karyo.
Directed by Oliver Marchal.

Les Lyonnais is a French gangster film. the film is based on actual events, two young men who were friends, one gypsy, one local, who were arrested for stealing cherries. As they grew older, they became involved in complex organised crime and robberies, in the 1960s and 1970s.

Time has passed and the gypsy, who has established an empire, has a family, wants to forget the past. However, the other friend has surfaced, and a confrontation builds up between the two, revelations that the friend has been a traitor, and the gypsy organising his elimination.

Gerard Lanvin and Tcheky Karyo are strong French actors and carry this film. The director has built something of a career on police and criminal films and television series.

1. An interesting French crime thriller? Based on true stories? 21st century style and storytelling?

2. The French settings, in the past, in the present? Homes, prisons, the streets?

3. The title, the name for the gang?

4. The structure of the film, the present, memories, flashbacks? The friends in the young days? In the present?

5. The focus on Momon, his age, experience, with his family, the mansion, yet the guards? His wife, children and grandchildren? His being disturbed, his friend in prison, the plan for him to be abducted from prison?

6. Serge, his work as a gangster, the partnership the 35 years, his visit with his wife, the arrest, imprisonment, interrogations, torture? His reliance on Momon?

7. The flashbacks, the two men when they were young, social conditions, the robberies, the cherries? Their being apprehended? In prison, interrogated, searched, the experience, their bonding?

8. The 35 years, Serge and his not being found? The importance for Momon?

9. The set up, the gang, the guns, the police, the rescue?

10. Momon and his henchmen, characters, work, violence, loyalty?

11. The past and the two men as adults, forming the gang, the series of robberies, the frustration of the police? Momon and his love, his wife? Her being interrogated, prison, the effect? The arrest and imprisonment?

12. The truth, Serge and his being an informant? Betrayal? Momon and his feelings of loyalty? Arranging the killing?

13. The meeting, the confrontation, the resolution?

14. An interesting French film, crime history, the status of the characters, crime and paying?