“Investigation into a state scandal” the fight against drugs in a state of passivity

Claire Mathon

CRITIQUE — The history of the political film has some jewels. Let us cite for the record Three Days of the Condor (1975) by Sydney Pollack, The President's Men ( 1976) by Alan J. Pakula or Hands on the City (1962) and Exquisite Corpses (1976) by Francesco Rosi. One of the most surprising was The International (2009) by Tom Tykwer. In France, the level is lower, particularly with the films of Costa Gavras including Z (1968) and Special section (1975), or TV film version with those of Yves Boisset, Un Condé (1970) and Le Juge Fayard said The Sheriff (1976). The latter, despite somewhat outrageous biases, a Manichaeist denunciation and a somewhat crude bill, still had a bit of panache. Let us note in passing the correct An affair of State (2009) by Éric Valette. Investigation into a State Scandal falls well short of all this ambition. France has difficulty tackling hot topics with a truly mature tone. However, this is not what is missing these days when we read La Mafia d'Etat by Vincent Jaubert or Secret Défense by Pascal Jouary.

The director, Thierry de Peretti, author of Les Apaches (2013) and A violent life (2017) returns to the affair of François Thierry, former boss of the fight against drugs accused of having maintained disturbing links with a major trafficker in Europe, and favored the importation of tons of narcotics into France. In May 2016, in Libération, the journalist Emmanuel Fansten revealed this affair and devoted a book to it, L'infiltré, then a second in March 2021, State Trafficking – Investigation into the abuses of the fight against drugs.

We are, in the film, in October 2015. French customs seize seven tonnes of cannabis in the heart of the capital. A former drug infiltrator, Hubert Antoine (Roschdy Zem) contacts Stéphane Vilner (Pio Marmaï), journalist at Libération, and claims to be able to demonstrate the existence of state trafficking directed by Jacques Billard (Vincent Lindon), a high-ranking officer. of the French police. From these facts, the director constructs a fiction which looks more like a kind of “documentary » as the pace is slow, without the slightest relevance, stretches and stretches between very banal dialogue scenes, filmed in sequence shots in a 4/3 format and atmospheric scenes without concreteness (those in the editorial newspaper, court hearings). All without dramatic tension, without fever, without roughness. Flat like asphalt. We never enter the slightest universe. One might believe that there is a desire here to be sober and authentic, but we are not in a “contemplative ” film.» à la Théo Angelopoulos. There is no cinema here, but dialogues and dialogues. The entire film uses them to provide useful information (journalistic and political jargon), in order to understand the issues and the relationships of each character to the point that the viewer is quickly overwhelmed. The construction of the scenario is strongly in question. To this are added, as if unexpectedly, unnecessary and long scenes, as if they could give a little life to the film. For example, the one where Hubert Antoine asks his partner to marry him while he is suffering from cancer, or the ones where Hubert Antoine and Stéphane Vilner get confused, reconcile and argue again without the action moving forward. 'a thumb. While it is true that such a film generally focuses on the plot, nothing is given of the personal existence of each protagonist, scattered even allusively throughout. They simply don't exist. The role of the Libération journalist seems disembodied, without substance and without charisma, often filmed from afar, appearing like a big bearded and soft cat, inconsistent and without real involvement. For the filmmaker, showing it through a few furtive shots in front of his computer is enough to authenticate his immense and feverish investigative work. We will not know more about the world of journalism. There is a clear lack in the direction of the actors, apart from the fact that the spectator is left outside as if he were watching fish talking in a bowl. Vincent Lindon makes an appearance at the beginning and at the end to try to make his character of a corrupt official credible in a few tirades, while only Roschdy Zem stands out even slightly without playing a role commensurate with the character. stake. Everything seems distended. Investigation into a State Scandal will be forgotten, a sort of politically correct political film. Without the shadow of cinema and without vision. “Don’t look up”: a satirical film without the sneering and jubilant shadow of satire REVIEW — Don't Look Up by Adam McKay is a satirical disaster film. Adam McKay is the director of Anchorman (1 and 2), Talladega Nights and The Big Short (L… January 15, 2022 – 4:02 p.m. Culture “The fracture”, an angry and tender portrait of a state of…social emergency, by Catherine Corsini CRITICISM – A striking collision of the Yellow Vest demonstrations and the public hospital crisis, “La Fracture”, the latest film by Catherine Corsini, presented… October 27, 2021 – 2:30 p.m. Culture

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