36 Quai des Orfèvres

I discovered this one in a cinema magazine where 36 Quai Des Orfèvres was presented as a hot thriller coming out on DVD. I read first the reviews on this site and the rating and then I didn't hesitate to order it. Wow, I am happy I bought it because I spent a wonderful entertaining Saturday evening watching a big thriller with my wife. I will add it no doubt to my best of DVD collection. My congratulations to all the stuff for this super job with lot of plots, intrigues and twists. The main characters were well developed and played by the great actors Daniel Auteil and as usual Gérard Depardieu. I am surprised what the french film scene presented recently to the audience with good thrillers as for example CRIMSON RIVERS I and II, L'EMPIRE DES LOUPS and the funny ones L'ENQUETE CORSE and TAIS-TOI. Standing ovations and I have my great respect for all. These movies are much more better than the last thrillers I saw from Hollywood. The running time was not long in respect of the similar US-thriller HEAT that was too long and not so hot as 36 Quai Des Orfèvres. For all theses reasons I give with my wife a solid 7/10 that matches nearly the actual vote of 7.2 on IMDb. Don't miss it, you won't regret.

This is like the French version of Michael Mann's "Heat." Daniel Auteuil and Gerard Depardieu are like the Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro of France.

These heavyweight actors really do a good job in this cop drama where they play former friends and colleagues who work in different competing departments at the French police. Depardieu plays a gutless immoral cop. Auteuil is the family man who is not perfect himself but is far more moral than his former buddy.

It shows the grit of Paris that people outside France don't usually see in French movies, like the mobs, the gangs, the corruption of the urban ghettos. Instead of pretty cafes and the Eiffel Tower, we get to see alleys and project housing.

Italian actress Valeria Golino plays Auteuil's wife. Auteuil's character tries to protect her from the ugliness of his job by not telling her anything. But circumstances beyond their control later on force her to get involved. The director brilliantly puts it all together.

I know some people didn't like the ending. I thought it was fine and I was not at all disappointed. The other supporting actors like Andre Dussolier who are all famous in France also do a good job. We really liked this movie and highly recommend it!

Cop turned director is a new one on me but there's always a first time I guess. One thing's sure Marchal has a lot of balls in titling his film as he has and so inviting direct comparison with the only other film to employ as its title the address of the Police headquarters in Paris, Henri-Georges Clouzot's 1947 classic called simply Quai des orfevres without the number which is superfluous. Clouzot's movie is well over 50 years old and featured a more sedate form of detection - Louis Jouvet was not exactly Monsieur Hard Man and, like the man said, the times they are a changing. Marchal, who began taking acting lessons when he was still a cop (so that's how they perfect the good cop/bad cop routine) and went on to play in several TV crime series, has based his story on a real situation, the internicine rivalry in the eighties between the BRI and the BRB, both working out of the Quai. Co-scriptwriter Dominique Loiseau was a player and this is partly his story. The film is dominated by two lions in winter, Gerard Depardieu and Daniel Auteuil recalling Duke Wayne and Bob Mitchum in El Dorado, two ageing pros if not yet over the hill certainly at the summit, so these two craggy bears, polar bears if you will, polar being the French name for gangster/caper/crime films, light up the screen no question about it as the respective heads of the BRB (Brigade de Repression du Banditisme, that's Major Heists to you and me) and BRI (Brigade de Recherche et d'Intervention (we're Gangbusters, Man). There's a history between these two, we're never QUITE told the full story which is a masterstroke, but it involves Vrink's (Auteuil) wife, who may have once been Klein's (Depardieu) girl. To sweeten the pot Mancini (Andre Dussollier) head honcho announces his retirement leaving his job up for grabs; both are equally qualified but it's an open secret that the first guy to nail a particularly violent gang will become the new chief. Auteuil is our Dirty Harry kind of cop, often worse than the villains he's after but he DOES usually get them in the end, Depardieu is a tad choosier but not TOO good to live. To say more wouldn't really add much, I found myself a little intrigued by the long, black leather coats worn by both Brigades, resembling nothing so much as the outfit of choice of the Stasi in East Germany and I HOPE this is an oblique comment on the fact that (England at least) is slowly becoming a Police state. All in all an enjoyable romp and well worth 8 stars.

The film by Olivier Marchal has recently been released in Polish cinemas under quite a misleading title, 36, which does not indicate much to an average movie goer. And the same was as to me. I went to see it not because it is based on true facts (no handout said it), nor because it is a thriller (I am not a particular fan of such films) but because of two main actors, Gerard Depardieu and Daniel Auteuil, both remarkably popular in Europe. The movie surprised me, not only due to the performances of the above mentioned persons, but because of the content and the way it is presented.

MESSAGE AND REALISM: It would be silly to present now the content of the film. Many before me have already done it. All I would like to say, or in other words, all I would like to draw viewer's attention to are two factors: what the film generally wants to convey and why it is so natural. Marchal's film IS (I do not deny) filled with violence. It shows the methods of the worst criminals. A particularly disgusting moment was beating of a woman in a bar, close friend of the cops. However, the main idea and focus is not directed towards the criminals that much as rather towards two cops who can also be influenced by decadence and brutality. Leo Vrinks (Daniel Auteuil) is definitely a good man, attached to his family and striking for justice indefatigably fighting against the pack of bandits. His former friend, however, Denis Klein (Gerard Depardieu) moves his goals in a different direction... Therefore, the end shows that they get what each one deserves... Therefore, the movie is a wonderful message of how people stir their goals in life. At the same time, it is a very natural presentation of the world of the cops, how risky their lives are, how they really have to deal with most serious crimes. But here, it is important to state that by showing violence, the film IN NO WAY tries to promote it, but aims at a realistic image of the main characters' reality.

CAST: The performances are great. Most people play very naturally, which makes the film a true adventure. There are such moments in which you feel that you are there with Vrinks. The director wonderfully manages to lead a viewer to the action, to be controlled by it, to sink in it. And that proves the fact that the film is a very talented piece of work.

EMOTIONS: I was very, very surprised how many gentle moments the producers entailed in a thriller. On the one hand, we see the corruption and decadence of the criminal world; on the other hand, there is love and gentleness. I will never forget the moment when Vrinks is in a jail and does all he can in despair to see his wife, Camille Vrinks (Valeria Golino). Their delicate kiss and gentle words "I love you" later occur to be the key aspects of their last meeting in this world. And the sequence of Vrinks and his 17 year old daughter, Lola (played by Auteuil's real daughter Aurore Auteuil). He is showed as a man who has never been spoiled by the world he dealt with. The emotions that the movie shows are really worth attention - no kitsch, no tearjerker, but real life!

To sum up, I have to say that I liked the movie. Not many French films are released in Poland, not many of them are famous in the world (pity), but after seeing Marchal's film, I consider it one of the best of its genre. Really, honor meets decadence and gentleness meets brutality. Isn't that realistic?

A couple of days ago I saw the trailer of "36 Quai des Orfèvres" and I decided to buy the DVD. What a powerful movie it is, probably the best police story that I have recently seen. The dramatic and amoral story is a contemporary film-noir, with action, betrayal, shootings and hooks the attention from the beginning to the end. There is a great duel between two titans: Gérard Depardieu, in the role of a scum detective, and Daniel Auteuil, playing a detective with non-conventional procedures, and they both deserved nomination to the Oscar for such brilliant performances. The music score, with the song "Don't Bring me Down", is also wonderful. The grandiosity of "36 Quai des Orfèvres" recalled me 1995 "Heat", one of the best police stories of the 90's. I really do not understand why there are negative reviews for such great film. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "36"