Powerful

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Antoine, a young lieutenant, fresh from the police academy, wants to be assigned to the Paris police force. He feels that by staying in Le Havre he will be missing his call, which is to be in an exciting environment where his talent will matter and he will be appreciated by his peers and superiors. Antoine gets his wish by getting place in the homicide division where there is always some unexpected thing happening. As Antoine is about to begin his career in Paris, a new police supervisor, Caroline Vaudieu, returns to take command of this unit. She had been away from active duty for a while. In welcoming her back the head of the department congratulates her on being sober for quite some time now. Caroline is battling her own demons in her tragic life because of the death of her son, years ago. In fact, she remarks her late child could have been the same age as Antoine,had he still been among the living. The death of a homeless person under strange circumstances brings the homicide unit into action. Everything points out to a duo of undocumented Russian immigrants who manage to elude the police investigation trying to capture them. Antoine, who gets the assignment, together with his partner, Morbe, to go after one of the pair who has been hiding in a hostel, makes a tactical error by going alone to the criminal's room, something that ends with fatal consequences. Caroline is devastated by what happened to her young subordinate, vowing to get the criminal, no matter what.A great "policier" directed with sure hand by Xavier Beauvois, who also collaborated in the screenplay, as well as portrayed Morbe, a man whose mistake proves to be the cause the end of a young man's police career. The police work is examined with accurate detail by the director who keeps things moving, getting his audience immersed in the story. One realizes not all the police work is non stop action.we watch the men for what they are, comrades in arms working to protect the citizens of their area. It also presents a human soul suffering, as is the case of Caroline, a woman whose life has known great suffering in her life and her struggle to keep away from drinking herself into oblivion.Nathalie Baye makes an excellent, and complex, Caroline. One can sense her pain. She is mourning for a loss that was a terrible blow for a mother. Her becoming an alcoholic ruins her career until she decides to get over her self pity, returning to a job in which she excels. Ms Baye is seen experiencing emotions that one can identify with. Jalil Lespert's new police lieutenant credible. He is perfectly eager doing a job he always dreamed about. Roschy Zem keeps getting better all the time,as he shows here. Jacques Perrin has a small, but effective role as Caroline's old lover. The excellent supporting cast is a joy to watch in an ensemble effort.

The other day me and my friend cam out of the cinema. We had just seen VOLVER by Almodovar, and my friend made a very astute observation. She said: "In the beginning I had difficulties to get into this film. It is so uncommon to watch a film where there are so few cuts within the first ten minutes. Nowadays, when I go to the movies, I expect a car to be blown up or a man to be killed or an army to be set in motion within the first scenes". Le petit lieutenant had the same impact on me. Before seeing it, I thought: O.K., this is a cop film, a whodunit maybe, with a well conceived plot and lots of tension. Fortunately, I was mistaken. This film doesn't rush us into violent crime scenes and bold snide remarks by worn out and disillusioned cops. Instead it gives us an accurate account of everyday police work and it tells us how boring and dull police work can be. Due to these scenes of boredom the sequences where there is some real violence have a bigger impact on the viewer. Anyway, I just want to say, that I was completely thrilled by the realism of this film and I am staring to prefer European cinema to American cinema.

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.

This may be one of the most realistic Police Procedurals ever made. It's low-key to the point of virtually creating an H-minor. No prizes for guessing that Nathalie Baye is outstanding as a Commandant returning to duty after detox - she lost a son and found the sauce, not very original but very human - on the same day Jalil Lespert joins her squad. Fresh out of Training College Lespert badly misses his wife who has remained in their native Le Havre and is reluctant to join him in Paris. Two wounded birds cope as best they can in the day-to-day environment of a homicide squad which is woefully short on glamour/drama but high on realistic routine. A minor murder is investigated thoroughly but with little result i.e. very realistically. Don't look for happy endings tied up in pink ribbons but do look for top-drawer acting.