Monday, February 27, 2012

Polisse (2011)

Poliss • Polisse (2011)
Polisse (2011)

Genre: Drama
Director: Maïwenn
Starring: Joey Starr, Karine Viard, Marina Foïs, Nicolas Duvauchelle
Language: French
Duration: 127 min.
Rating: 7.4  

Summary:
The daily grind for the cops of the Police Department's Juvenile Protection Unit is shaken up with the arrival of a photographer on a Ministry of the Interior assignment to document the unit.



Polisse is a film directed by Maïwenn, co-written by Emmanuelle Bercot. The title is an intentional childish misspelling of the word 'police'. It premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Jury Prize. It was also nominated for 13 César Awards, winning for Best Editing (Laure Gardette, Yann Dedet) and for Most Promising Actress (Neyda Yadri).

Director Maïwenn continues with the documentary-like style of her previous films with this intimate look at the Child Protection Unit of the Paris Police. The editing is truly the strongest attribute of Poliss as the camera constantly jumps here and there, switching threads with overlapping cases, and with various personal and professional moments of the multiple characters. It was impressive that they could form a coherent narrative while juggling so many different faces and storylines.

Poliss • Polisse (2011)

I felt the ensemble acting, nominated for seven individual César awards, was competent but held back by a screenplay that had some great dialog, but never quite felt genuine when it came to the personal stories. It seemed to go out of its way to provide an over-dramatic emotional moment for each of the squad members to vent their stress (or the actors to show off). I think it would have been better served with a little more realism and subtlety to fit in with the visual tone of the film.

Then there was the misguided decision of the director to cast herself in the film as an embedded photographer covering the unit. She does play the role well enough, however her character, aside from an affair with one of the officers, never materializes into anything significant, basically remaining an observer from the outside never getting a proper arc nor purpose for being there.

Poliss • Polisse (2011)

It wasn't all bad though, as Maïwenn and her editors have a very good sense for balancing the ugly and shocking details of the cases that the Child Protection Unit deal with every day (all based on true events) with some pleasantly scripted light and humorous moments. These come as welcome relief to both the audience and to her characters, and it's interesting to see how some of them are better at switching from job mode to personal mode than others.

In the end, Poliss does have a few powerful individual moments to make it worth checking out but not enough authenticity or substance to make it an essential film.

Bonjour Tristesse

Poliss • Polisse (2011)

Poliss • Polisse (2011)

Poliss • Polisse (2011)

Poliss • Polisse (2011)

Poliss • Polisse (2011)

Poliss • Polisse (2011)

Poliss • Polisse (2011)

Poliss • Polisse (2011)

12 comments:

FrontRoomCinema said...

Sounds good, although I am pretty anti Directors putting themselves in the film!

Jessica said...

That one is running right now at our arthouse theatre but considering your response it doesn't sound like something not-to-be-missed. I have a lot of stuff to watch and write about so I need to be picky. I trust on you.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

 How about Dennis Hopper? Clint Eastwood? Orson Welles?

FrontRoomCinema said...

LOL Point taken ;-)

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah I'd say go for the other films you want to see first. This wasn't terrible, but the writing to me feels kind of like a typical cop show on TV, except with better actors.

Hoi-Ming Ng said...

I feel like if you get the opportunity to see a film in a theatre with an audience you should take it. You don't get many chances like that with foreign cinema and the experience can be much richer than watching it at home on a tv or computer screen.

Michaël Parent said...

Saw the preview for this and I thought to myself this is the kind of film I stay away.

d_4 said...

Sounds average. It wins over a very solid 'maybe' from me.

Shutter Bug said...

interesting premise! I want to see this sometime...

NeverTooEarlyMP said...

Nice review. I'm thinking that the cop aspect probably isn't really for me. I remember hearing about this one when it premiered, and then again when it was nominated for all those Cesar awards, but it doesn't sound like it really picked up that many. I'm also noticing that it had an October release date, making it eligible to be next year's Oscar submission, but based on what you've written here it sounds like it's more likely that something new from this year's Cannes might take it. 

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I totally understand.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah many of those nominations were multiples in the same category, kind of like The Help. I think it would be cool if they gave an award to the best ensemble.

I think it's highly doubtful that this one will get submitted, there's got to be a better candidate that will surface by next fall.

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