La femme flic

Typical masterpiece, gem, from our French daring, brave, bold Yves Boisset who, here, in this picture shows a topic, subject that someone like Jean-Pierre Mocky could have also told, but of course in another manner, with his own way. A daring subject for its time, where feminism was nearly a forbidden topic to talk about, except in late evening Tv programs, talk shows destined to hard sleep audiences. Now, in 2024, female lead characters are galore, legion, it is nearly impossible to have a film or series WITHOUT a female lead, strong, determined, daring, as Yves Boisset here, in a movie that certainly pleased Claude Chabrol who, himself, also criticized the little town, provincial bourgeoisie.

At the time,in the French cinema,women were joining the Police at an alarming speed .Miou-Miou was a credible female cop.She investigates a young girl's death.She brings to light a pedophilia network ,in which the local VIPs are involved .And the local Commissaire provides them with protection...

The subject was not that much frequent in the early eighties ,but Boisset's work is not as strong as his early militant works ("RAS" and "Dupont-Lajoie" ) or his powerful follow-up "Allons z'Enfants" .

The most interesting element is not the detective side of the story.It's the cop's relationship with the young people of the YM(W)CA.When they discover what her job is ,they look at her with disgust (typically post-68 attitude)."Keep on scoffing your Choucroute(sauerkraut),the police woman says,I've got more important things to do."

Yves Boisset was one of a trio of young French directors in the 1970's who made very entertaining, profitable movies about crime and political/social problems (the others were Costa-Gavras and Philippe Labro). L'Attentat dealt with the Ben Barka affair, R.A.S. with the excesses of the French army in Algeria, Le juge Fayard with the assassination of a judge who was probing too deeply into corrupt politicians. This latter film helped to launch the career of Patrick Dewaere.

This film isn't as good as the preceding ones. Miou-Miou plays an overzealous cop on her way down who stumbles on a pedophile ring involving some rich and powerful people in a small town. Leny Escudero has a small but effective part as an anarchist troublemaker who helps the cop. Francois Simon has a wonderful cameo as the old doctor who dispenses worthless homeopathic serums; living in a ratty old house reeking of cat urine, he's paying tribute to Celine. This picture has the feel of an hour-long detective show blown up to feature length. Only Miou-Miou's naive yet stubborn determination and her strength under the frail exterior keep it going.

In the 80's, women started to enter the police in many European countries. One of those was France, and filmmakers rushed to comment on this change. While some parodied women's presence, "Le gendarme et les gendarmettes" (1982) being a prime example of this, others admired their work, such as Yves Boisset, who offered an interesting portrayal of a policewoman with "La femme flic" in 1980.

Boisset based his film on the real story of a cop he had met while shooting another film in Thailand. She had discovered a pedophilia network, while being obstructed by her bosses, who didn't want to expose prominent members of society that were taking part in this disgusting activity.

The plot respects the original story, and the struggle of the heroine, inspector Corinne Levasseur, to serve justice is shown with realism, and without being parodied by the director.

Speaking of which, he did a good job showing his characters' personalities, and their attitudes towards the problem. Some don't want to be involved, others want to support the inspector, while there are also those who want to hide their involvement in the network so as not to be condemned. The head of the police, at the same time, is portrayed as a classic example of the state's institutions protecting the wrongdoing elite, since he covers the latter group of people.

The cast was excellent too, especially the protagonist Miou-Miou. Another revelation of French 80's cinema, she interpreted the role of the determined heroine realistically, and it was mostly her performance that kept the film going. Interesting to note is the presence of Leny Escudéro, a former yéyé singer who had his breakthrough with "Pour une amourette" in 1962. He didn't give any special performance, but the participation of artists in films was always of interest to me.

What was particularly pleasing to me about this film is its portrayal of women as members of the police. Inspector Levasseur is shown to receive derogatory comments about her profession, due to the fact of her being a woman, both by her male colleagues, ang by more traditional women she meets during her struggle to uncover the criminal network. When compared to the aforementioned film "Le gendarme et les gendarmettes", the last part in the gendarme series with Louis de Funès, one can see the difference in how policewomen are characterized. In "La femme flic", they are respected for their work by the director, and shown to act with sensibility. In the latter movie, they are mostly parodied, shown to be sensitive, seductive, and just there for comedic relief. It is understandable why now "Le gendarme et les gendarmettes" is negatively regarded, while "La femme flic" enjoys a more positive reputation.

All in all, fans of the classic policier genre will enjoy this version with a woman as the protagonist. While not standing a chance against box-office successes "La Boum", "The empire strikes back", and "Kramer versus Kramer", it is a respectable film that deservedly surpassed one million admissions. Besides, not all films need to be cult in order to be good.

Inspecteur Levasseur (Miou-Miou) tries too much. When you're doing this job, there's a certain line that you can't cross. Don't put on a fight against the real big guns: powerful businessman with ties to the political world. Inspecteur Levasseur must do her job without entering this inner-sanctum. So when the bad guys are off to do their old tricks again, what does Inspecteur Levasseur do? Does she close her eyes, pretending not to see anything so she can keep her job? Or does she go full steam ahead? Or why not just quit? The decision is all Inspecteur Levasseur to make.

This movie reminds me of Adieu, poulet. Instead of Vergeat, we have here Inspecteur Levasseur, confronted with her destiny. It's truly a genre that was well explored by French cinéastes in the 60's, 70's and 80's.

Miou-Miou is good, if just a bit too stoic.

Out of 100, I gave it 74. That's good for **½ out of ****.

Seen at home, in Toronto, on January 17th, 2004.