Anyone with a fondness of and for the Academy Award Winning film, The French Connection, will relish the French perspective of the case in THE CONNECTION (LA FRENCH).
In 1975 Marseilles, dedicated magistrate Pierre Michel (Jean Dujardin) risks his life to crack a heroin ring masterminded by powerful mobster Gaëtan Zampa (Gilles Lellouche).
The film chronicles over a six year period how these two men conduct their business, a conflict made all the more fascinating as these adversaries are so very much alike, even physically.
Michel understands addiction only too well, being a reformed chronic gambler. Young junkies, lives ruined or snuffed out, their families devastated, impact on him personally.
His addiction now is to the job, although, like his gambling, it is threatening to undermine his family life.
Zampa is also shown to have a strong devotion to family, delighting in lavishing his wife with a glamorous lifestyle.
Home-grown Marseilles movie maker, Cedric Jimenez, allows his local knowledge of place and time to illuminate the narrative, marrying a trim, taut and terrific thriller with a fascinating character study.
THE CONNECTION opens with a picturesque tracking of Marseille’s coast road, golden sun and azure sky and sea, postcard perfect, a Mediterranean paradise, abruptly postponed, or more correctly cancelled by callous and expert execution, as one of the drivers of the car is summarily assassinated when he stops to refuel.
Unlike that unfortunate motorist, THE CONNECTION never stops to refuel, its high octane narrative keeping the drama firing on all cylinders till it reaches its devastating destination.
Jean Dujardin is marvellous as the crime fighting crusader, his potent screen presence present in every scene. Equally charismatic as the crime kingpin, Gilles Lellouche exudes a similar screen presence, as compulsively watchable as Dujardin, and possessed of the same intelligence.
Lensing and lighting by Laurent Tangy is sublimely rendered, skills soaked up and honed from his early career days on films like The Transporter.
Costume and production design are top notch, and the killer soundtrack of the period is as sharp as Michel’s sideburns.
THE CONNECTION is crème de la crème crime drama and warrants a full commercial release. Track it down early at the French Film Festival and get arrested.
The Alliance Francaise French Film Festival runs March 3 – 22 at the Chauvel, Paddington, Palace Verona, Paddington, Palace Norton Street, Leichardt, and Hayden Orpheum Cremorne.