Scènes de crimes (2000)
Directed by Frédéric Schoendoerffer

Film Review

Frédéric Schoendoerffer's first film, Scènes de crimes, combines elements of the modern American thriller with its traditional French counterpart, the policier, and goes some way to redefining this important (and popular) genre of French cinema at the start of the third millennium.   There are a number of obvious similarities with two other American-style thrillers which were released in France in the same year (2000): Cédric Kahn's Roberto Succo and Mathieu Kassovitz's Les Rivières pourpres.  The popularity of these films in suggests that French may have rediscovered their love for the crime thriller genre and that we can expect many such films in future years.

Although Scènes de crimes has some obvious shortcomings (for example, Schoendoerffer's needlessly analytical and repetitive use of gory images weakens the film's visual poetry), it does offer an interesting variation on a familiar theme.   The film shows that Schoendoerffer has talent and suggests that his career may be as distinguished as that of his father (the acclaimed film director Pierre Schoendoerffer).

Intense performances from Charles Berling and André Dussollier (two versatile and greatly respected actors, both at their best here) contribute greatly to the brooding atmosphere of the film.  By bringing in the family lives of the cops Fabian and Gomez into the narrative, Schoendoerffer gives his characters far greater depth than you'd expect to find in a standard thriller - and the Berling-Dussollier pairing works surprisingly well, to the extent that this become the film's focal point. Had the film been made in America, it could well have spawned a long-running television series.

One of the most striking features of Scènes de crimes is that it takes some fairly radical departures from the conventional thriller, whilst at the same time adhering to a familiar formula.  All of the elements of the traditional French policier are there - tough, slightly amoral heroes, a complex web of intrigue and, most importantly, an atmosphere of gloom and mistrust which can only be described as noirish.  Yet there is also dark cynicism, a stifled nihilistic cry, which is manifested through its graphic portrayal of a threat which appears to have no bounds (extreme violence, grotesque killings, etc.).  This is not a sick film intended to titillate morally vacuous young men who derive some kind of morbid satisfaction from watching displays of extreme violence.  Rather, it is a daring and intelligent work which vividly reflects the grim reality of the kind of society we are now living in.  The alternative way of life, illustrated by the film's optimistic epilogue, appears strangely unattainable in a world that has apparently lost all sense of morality and decency.

Film Synopsis

After their teenage daughter, Marie Bourgoin, suddenly goes missing, the owners of a Parisian inn soon begin to suspect the worst.  Not long after starting their investigation, police inspectors Fabian and Gomez find the first clue as to the girl's grim fate - a travel brochure strained with blood.  The case takes a more macabre turn when the remains of Marie's pet dog are then unearthed.  Not long afterwards, the dead bodies of two women are discovered - both are badly mutilated and one is in all probability that of the missing Marie.  There seems to be no doubt that a totally deranged serial killer is at large in the neighbourhood.  Can the enterprising cops find him before he strikes again...?