Product Details

• Actors: Nathalie Baye, Jalil Lespert, Roschdy Zem, Antoine Chappey, Jacques Perrin
• Directors: Xavier Beauvois
• Writers: Xavier Beauvois, Cédric Anger, Guillaume Bréaud, Jean-Eric Troubat
• Producers: Martine Cassinelli, Pascal Caucheteux
• Format: Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Koch Lorber Films
• DVD Release Date: April 10, 2007
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000MRNWFQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,476 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Le Petit Lieutenant" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As long as there are cops and criminals, the police procedural will persist. The subgenre appeals to those who truly believe the devil is in the details. In his fourth feature, writer/director Xavier Beauvois may not reinvent the form, but he gets the details right. Though he hones in on one seemingly minor murder, Beauvois is mostly concerned with the plainclothes cops trying to solve it. As the story begins, Antoine (Jalil Lespert, Human Resources) has just been transferred from Normandy to Paris. He couldn't be happier, even if his wife prefers the country. Antoine loves her dearly, but he loves his job just as much. His co-workers include the Jane Tennison-like Inspector Vaudieu (César winner Nathalie Baye), veteran cop Mallet (Antoine Chappey), and Muslim cop Solo (Roschdy Zem). For the most part, they get along pretty well, especially Antoine and Vaudieu, who develops maternal feelings towards the rookie. By depicting these flics as fully-rounded individuals, then showing what happens when the worst possible scenario plays out, Beauvois generates an impact far greater than if he had presented them as stereotypical losers or superheroes. There's nothing trendy about Le Petit Lieutenant, nor is it an homage to the golden age of the procedural (Bullitt, The French Connection, etc.), but the filmmaker's attention to detail--the thrill of the chase vs. the drudgery of desk work--makes Le Petit Lieutenant the best procedural in years. It accomplishes more in 101 minutes than most cop shows do in an entire season. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Product Description

A gripping police noir, LE PETIT LIEUTENANT tells the story of Antoine, an ambitious young cop from the provinces who joins a plainclothes crime unit in Paris. Antoine spends his days eagerly awaiting his first assignment, drinking with his fellow detectives and developing an unlikely relationship with his superior, a veteran policewoman with a troubled past. But when the body of a drifter is found murdered along the Seine, a seemingly routine investigation suddenly turns violent and forever changes all their lives.
"An impeccably wrought contemporary police story." – Stephen Holden, The New York Times

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "An Expert Melodrama" April 11, 2007

By Stanley H. Nemeth

Format:DVD

This film, the sort of work Graham Greene without condescension called "an entertainment," is a fine achievement within the confines of its modern Parisian police story limits, confines it is intelligent enough not to transgress. However, it does happily push against these confines to the fullest allowable extent, becoming as a result not just a thrilling melodrama, but also a surprisingly affecting one.

At the outset, it spends a fairly liesurely time telling us about the home life of a new cop (Jalil Lespert) eager to make his mark and a veteran of the force who takes him under her wing, a recovering alcoholic and grieving mother (Natalie Baye) anxious to return to police work where she has in the past found some meaning in her otherwise troubled life. Both Lespert and Baye turn in wonderful performances, and they are ably abetted by a supporting cast which has not a single weak link. Further, when things go wrong for these central characters in the latter portion of the film, the liesurely setup has a great payoff; we care about their misfortunes to a greater extent than we would those of merely stereotypical police drama characters. All in all, this is a finely crafted melodrama without pretensions, and wholly enjoyable as just such.

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars MAGNIFICENT FRENCH POLICE DRAMA April 9, 2007

By Robin Simmons VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Delve into the personal lives of an elite French police unit on the most intimate level.

There is murder and death and crimes to be solved. And all the troubling foibles and

flaws of human behavior on both sides of the law.

This is great character-driven story telling and exquisite filmmaking. It was nominated

for six Cesars including Best Picture. Nathalie Bay won for Best Actress.

Not knowing the plot in advance is a big plus. I was intensely involved. Don't miss it if

you are an adult with a refined sense of cinema at its best. This one will knock you out.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars 'Le Petit' Noir July 10, 2007

By "Rocky Raccoon" VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

(3 1/2) While watching `Le Petit Lieutenant' I had to keep asking myself, `Why is this movie anything better than a US crime series?' Often watching foreign movies, I have to back up and say, 'How can I judge this movie?' After all, there is a temptation to give a French movie an unfair advantage or to demote its value based on American standard or yardstick. Either way is an insult to everyone. Comparing, `Le Petit Lieutenant' to `Law and Order,' a fine American crime series, yielded some results. While the developments and investigations in the movie remind one of any crime series, some elements definitely put this movie ahead. The authenticity of the characters seems even more vivid and real. Especially the dialogue reveals a good deal about the nature of France's police force and more than a self-examination of French culture.

The movie begins with the graduation of the titled character, Antoine Deroue're (Jalil Lespert) from the police academy. He's already an elite member of the force, a lieutenant, but still a new fish in the pond. He's left his school teacher wife behind in Le Havre to pursue his career in Paris. His new supervisor, Caroline Vaudieu (Nathalle Baye), is a sort of "super cop" from a "family of super cops". Newly reinstated, she is greeted enthusiastically as she returns after two years of complications only hinted at as a recovering alcoholic. His new division comes across with great authenticity. His initiation includes the escapades of his colleagues and their conversations are full of sentiments about their work, specifically, and about France in general. Included are unvarnished prejudices of foreigners; something that sets up the main plot well. In one conversation, one officer after a few beers offers eloquently: "Paris now sucks." In the discourse they decide the turning point was 1995. One of the brightest lights of the force is a colleague of Moroccan decent who shares that it took him years before he was accepted as one of group. During the engaging prologue, we see the run-of-the-mill development of Antoine develop until early on when he runs into a rare case of real import: A Polish man, seemingly homeless, is dragged up from the Seine River and revealed to have been cruelly murdered.

`Le Petit Lieutenant' works well because the dialogue is excellent, the action feels real, and the complications and setbacks develop naturally. In one of the scenes, I was truly moved by the unexpected. A development took a while for the characters to get over as well as for me as I watched. There is also effective humor. In one scene, Antoine and his supervisor are smoking marijuana in a park. A nightfly comes by to mooch a drag from their joint. Parting, he warns them, "Watch out. This place is crawling with cops."

In the end, that's how 'Le Petit Lieutenant' is distinctive. The details show some of the futility of a young, dedicated man in emotional times with absorbing characters and the repercussions of their lives.