EFFECTS OF POLICE WORK ARE ARRESTING IN `PETIT LIEUTENANT'.Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic Police work is usually pretty routine, workaday stuff. Until crises, of both the professional and life-threatening variety, eventually swoop down. Few films have captured that dynamic as well as the French procedural ``Le Petit Lieutenant Le Petit Lieutenant is a 2005 drama by French director Xavier Beauvois. Synopsis The title character is Antoine Derouere, a young man from the provinces who has just graduated from the police academy. .'' But Xavier Beauvois' film completes its assignment too well. Admirably credible as the film's first half is, dynamic it isn't. Things pick up in part two, but not enough to really give the movie the tragic depth Beauvois is going for -- except, crucially, where its central relationship is concerned. That would be the one between Inspector Caroline Vaudieu (Nathalie Baye Nathalie Baye (born July 6, 1948 in Mainneville, Eure, Normandy, France) is an award winning French actress. She has won the César award for her acting four times and been nominated a further five times. , who won France's best actress Cesar Award for her performance) and rookie detective Antoine Derouere (Jalil Lespert). He's an eager-beaver cadet who's thrilled to get his first assignment in a Paris precinct -- even though that means leaving his schoolteacher wife in provincial Normandy for long, lonesome lone·some adj. 1. a. Dejected because of a lack of companionship. See Synonyms at alone. b. Producing such dejection: a lonesome hour at the bar. 2. stretches. Antoine starts the same day once-crack cop Caroline returns from desk duty and a long stint of alcoholism recovery. It takes awhile for the two to bond, but a warm mother/mentor- son/student relationship blossoms. Both are pretty decent, dedicated folks (her drinking problem is too simplistically attributed to a family tragedy), and while we get tantalizing tan·ta·lize tr.v. tan·ta·lized, tan·ta·liz·ing, tan·ta·liz·es To excite (another) by exposing something desirable while keeping it out of reach. glimpses into the lives of the other detectives, Antoine and Caroline are the only ones we learn enough about to make their fates meaningful. Beauvois spent months embeded with a criminal investigation division before shooting his movie. It shows; ``Petit PETIT, sometimes corrupted into petty. A French word signifying little, small. It is frequently used, as petit larceny, petit jury, petit treason. PETIT, TREASON, English law. The killing of a master by his servant; a husband by his wife; a superior by a secular or religious man. Lieutenant'' is a scrupulously scru·pu·lous adj. 1. Conscientious and exact; painstaking. See Synonyms at meticulous. 2. Having scruples; principled. observed slice of cop working life. That makes it a definite achievement, but one that will likely earn more respect from viewers than it will passion. Bob Strauss, (818) 713-3670 bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com LE PETIT LIEUTENANT - Two and one half stars (Not rated: violence, nudity, language, drug use) Starring: Jalil Lespert, Nathalie Baye. Director: Xavier Beauvois. Running time: 1 hr. 50 min. Playing: Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Music Hall, Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. . In a nutshell: Realistic French policier certainly captures the tedium of detective work. Baye gives a pretty moving performance, once some action picks up in the latter half. In French with English subtitles sub·ti·tle n. 1. A secondary, usually explanatory title, as of a literary work. 2. A printed translation of the dialogue of a foreign-language film shown at the bottom of the screen. tr.v. . CAPTION(S): photo Photo: When rookie detective Antoine Derouere (Jalil Lespert) joins the Paris police force, his marriage begins to suffer in ``Le Petit Lieutenant.'' |
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