Plot
A French police magistrate spends years trying to take down one of the country's most powerful drug rings.
Release Year: 2014
Rating: 7.0/10 (1,411 voted)
Critic's Score: /100
Director: Cédric Jimenez
Stars: Jean Dujardin, Gilles Lellouche, Céline Sallette
Storyline
A French police magistrate spends years trying to take down one of the country's most powerful drug rings.
Writers: Audrey Diwan, Cédric Jimenez
Cast: Jean Dujardin -
Pierre Michel
Gilles Lellouche -
Gaëtan 'Tany' Zampa
Céline Sallette -
Jacqueline Michel
Mélanie Doutey -
Christiane Zampa
Benoît Magimel -
Le Fou
Guillaume Gouix -
José Alvarez
Bruno Todeschini -
Le Banquier
Féodor Atkine -
Gaston Deferre
Moussa Maaskri -
Franky Manzoni
Pierre Lopez -
Jean Paci
Eric Collado -
Robert
Cyril Lecomte -
Marco Da Costa
Jean-Pierre Sanchez -
Fabrizio Mandonato
Georges Neri -
Charles Peretti
Martial Bezot -
Le Gitan
Taglines:
Marseille 1975. To stop a dangerous drug lord, you need a dangerous cop.
Trivia:
The Gaumont animated opening logo is the 70's one. See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 10/10
If I could only recommend you go and see one film this year, The
Connection would be it.
The film follows the true story of the rise and fall of Pierre Michel
"The Judge", played by The Artist's Oscar winning Jean Dujardin,
against the Marseillaise mafia gang The French Connection in the 1970s.
The story had already been put to cinema in The Judge (1984), but this
time the story's been redone much more ambitiously.
It's a typical good guy versus bad guy story, but it's the bells and
whistles in this film that really make it so much more than that. The
director achieves the perfect combination of action, drama, comedy and
tragedy with the irrepressible Mediterranean sun beating down on every
day time scene in the film. The Mediterranean settings give the film a
sense of glamour and surrealism, juxtaposing the surreal nature of life
as a successful drug trafficker in the 1970s, passing time between
seaside villas and the biggest nightclub in Marseille.
This is film making at its best - it's as if the screen writer and
director Cédric Jimenez pulled out an old school book of film making
craft written in the 1970s and followed all the old rules to perfection
to bring about not only a brilliant piece of cinematic entertainment,
but also of art. This film is a living, breathing and intimate
nostalgic reinvention of the 1970s and a just and accurate portrayal of
a real gangster story, with some liberties in representing the
character's private lives.
Cédric Jimenez grew up himself in Marseille in the 1970s and says that
the story of the Judge has run through his veins his whole life. He has
wanted to make this film as long as he has wanted to be a film maker,
starting his career initially as a documentary maker. He chose to shoot
the whole film with a hand held camera, which gives the film it's
intimate and raw feeling.
It is an absolute viewing pleasure to be immersed back into the 1970s
era and the sets and costumes have been rendered to perfection, to
every last detail. The velour furniture, the dingy nightclubs, the
glamorous dresses and old style police surveillance technologies are a
delight to rediscover. The cowboy style of policing in the 1970s makes
the action scenes much more exciting than anything depicting the
risk-averse 2000s - the only person in the film wearing even a bullet
proof vest is the gang leader Gaëtan "Tany" Zamper (Gilles Lellouche).
There are countless unforgettable scenes in this film, the dialogue is
witty, the action is edgy and the acting is superb. Another highlight
is the film's soundtrack featuring endless classics from the 1970s
(Blondie, Kim Wilde and the Velvet Underground) and tunes by composer
Guillaume Roussel that reflect the film soundtracks of the time (for
example, his tune Meurtre de fou). It can be tough to watch a
sub-titled film for 2h15min, but believe me it's worth it.
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