I wasn't particularly impressed with director Maurice Pialat's 1980 film Loulou, and Police, filmed five years later, doesn't show much of an improvement. Gerard Depardieu (known to American audiences through Green Card) picked up a Best Actor award at the 1985 Venice Film Festival for his portrayal of Detective Mangin, a hard-boiled sexist cop who becomes involved with a woman (Sophie Marceau) that is picked up for being a player in a North African drug ring. In the first half of the film, the improvisational nature of the dialogue clearly shows through as Pialat tries to give an authentic feel to his frantic overview of life inside the police station. Depardieu growls and slaps people in the back of the head during questioning, background conversations (sometimes translated, sometimes not) are constantly in progress, and trips down the hallway are replete with bustling characters who always seem to be very busy and in a profound hurry. The pace slows down considerably in the second half when Mangin becomes romantically involved with Noria (Marceau) who, in turn, decides to fleece her drug friends--putting Mangin in the middle of an ethical and legal quandary. As police procedurals go, Police is not all that bad; it's simply a lot more run of the mill than it thinks it is. To give you an idea of the intellectual weight of the film, actress Marceau reportedly referred to director Pialat as a "sadomasochistic pervert" during filming, and he responded by calling her a "young bitch." Not a necessary purchase. (R. Pitman) [DVD Review—Sept. 11, 2012—Olive, 113 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, $24.95—Making its first appearance on DVD, 1985's Police sports a great transfer but no special features. Bottom line: an overrated film bows on DVD in a meat-and-potatoes edition.] [Blu-ray/DVD Review—Mar. 7, 2017—Olive, 114 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.95, Blu-ray: $29.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1985's Police features a great transfer and 2.0 audio on the Blu-ray release, but no extras. Bottom line: Pialat's overrated police drama bows on Blu-ray in a barebones edition.]
Police
color. 113 min. In French w/English subtitles. New Yorker Video. (1985). $79.95. Not rated Library Journal
Police
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