L.627 (1992)
Directed by Bertrand Tavernier

Film Review

Most police films are geared around a strong central plot and often resort to extreme violence or improbable scenarios to create interest value.  Tavernier's film L.627 is a police film, but it is nothing like that.  In this film, Tavernier deliberately sets out to create a film which reflects, as accurately as possible, the true day-to-day life of French policemen, albeit in one of the most dangerous and dramatic areas of police work.  To a great extent, L.627 resembles a docu-soap, but not the kind of sanitised nonsense which we are more familiar with.  We see brutality - in both the criminals and in the police.  We see betrayal, distrust, anger - and guilt.  This is no fiction.  This is real life.

The lack of a strong plot for such a lengthy film is something of a problem, though.  Far too often you have the feeling that you are standing around waiting for something to happen.  Of course, this is probably an accurate reflection of the job of a police investigator - a lot of hanging around, punctuated by sporadic, random bursts of intense activity.  This would certainly deter many people from watching this film.  However, as an uncompromisingly honest and unsensationalised depiction of life in the police service, the film has great merit and is worth watching, if only as an educational experience.

Film Synopsis

Lucien Marguet is a committed cop who gets on the wrong side of his superiors when he voices his dissatisfaction with the rigid set of procedures he is expected to abide by in the pursuit of his duties, procedures that, in his opinion, render the police complacent and ineffective.  When a police raid goes awry, Lucien finds himself unceremoniously shunted to another department, one that is dedicated to tracking down and arresting drugs traffickers.  Once again, Lucien is frustrated by the lack of resources at his disposal, so he begins using his own initiative to make things easier for himself.  He puts his amateur filmmaking skills to good use, filming dealers without them knowing to help bring about their conviction.  But Lucien's superiors have none of his zeal and seem to be content with chasing after small fry instead of the big drugs barons.  In the course of his work, Lucien comes to sympathise with a prostitute, Cécile, whose life has been all but destroyed by her drug addiction.  The scale of the drugs problem and the unwillingness of the police to tackle it seriously soon begin to take their toll on Lucien, but he perseveres, even though his relationships with his colleagues and his wife are coming under an intolerable strain...