POLICE
France, 2020, 100 minutes, Colour.
Omar Sy, Virginie Elfire, Gregory Gadebois, Payman Maadi.
Directed by Anne Fontaine.
A French film with the title Police might expect to be a tough action show – and there have been many. This one is rather different insofar as it is set in a local Paris precinct, rather low-key compared with officers, charged with dealing with a lesser, investigating terrorism…
And the central character is female, Virginie a married officer played by Virginie Elfira, mother of a child, tensions with her husband, different tensions with the various men in the precinct. And, with this emphasis, it is significant that the film was directed by Anne Fontaine, not a director known for action films but rather studies of relationships and a portrait of Coco Chanel.
The two supporting characters are male. The ever-genial Omar Sy gives the appearance of being self-assured but is also self-conscious about his origins in Senegal. And has taken advantage of his relationship with Virginie. The other supporting character is Eric, a veteran of 20 years, straight up-and-down, letter of the law, but feeling the pressure and also alienated from his wife despite his best efforts.
We are shown the three involved in three cases, one of domestic violence, a wife still loving her husband but treated brutally by him – and his brutally treating Virginie when she comes with the investigating team. The group also has to go out to quell a city riot.
The main task is to accompany a refugee held in a detention centre who is to be deported. The three take him to the airport and questions are raised as to the justice of his deportation, an attempt to help him even escape but he cowers in the back of the car thinking the police are going to kill him. There is an extreme of the ultimate solution – symbolising a protest against harsh detention regulations.
At the back of all this action is an abortion issue.
A police film with a difference.
1. The title? Expectations? Differences from expectations?
2. The city of Paris, the precincts, homes, streets, the riots, domestic violence, airport, countryside, the sea, the abortion clinic? The classic style score?
3. The highlighting the names of the key characters, the focus on each, their interactions?
4. Virginie, the baby waking her, her relationship with her husband, careless at home, putting on her uniform, the policewoman, the fellow officers, the variety of jobs? Her age, experience, competence? The visit to the abortion clinic? With Aristide? tension? The banter? The flashbacks and the significance of the relationship, the practice fighting, the sexual relationship, the consequences?
5. Aristide, from Africa, his sense of race, his sense of self, his jokes? The flashbacks, with Virginie? Learning about the abortion, the effect, offering to go with her – and eventually going?
6. Eric, 20 years on the force, obeying the rules, rigid personality, sense of duty, the clashes with Virginie and Aristide, the phone calls from his wife, the massage experience, her changing the locks, his standing by the sea, will he kill himself or not?
7. The cases, the experience of the home violence, the wife at the precinct, loving her husband, going to the home, his gross attitude towards Virginie, the police, overcoming him? The riots, the action, the arrests?
8. The fire at the detention centre, the police going, the refugee to be deported, going to the airport, the news about the appeal to the courts, the tension in the car, each of the police and their attitudes towards the refugee? The possibility for escape? The stopping, the man afraid, thinking he would be killed? Giving him food? Eric and his complaint? Going to the airport, Virginie upset, the plan, talking to the pilot, letting the refugee out?
9. The visit to the abortion clinic?
10. The final close-up on each of the three police?
