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LE PETIT LIEUTENANT
Directed by: Xavier Beauvois.
Produced by: Pascal Caucheteux.
Written by: Beauvois, Guillaume Bréaud, Jean-Eric Troubat, & Cédric Anger.
Director of Photography: Caroline Champetier.
Edited by: Martine Giordano.
Released by: Koch Lorber Films.
Language: French with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: France. 110 min. Not Rated.
With: Nathalie Baye, Jalil Lespert, Roschdy Zem, Antoine Chappey, & Jacques Perrin.
DVD Features: Trailer. Photo gallery.

Le Petit Lieutenant is the affectionate nickname Chief Inspector Caroline gives to her protégé Antoine (Jalil Lespert), the greenhorn fresh from the policy academy. She’s just returned to her Paris crime unit after three years behind a desk and two without touching a drop of alcohol. Upon her first day back, she handpicks Antoine as her partner, a decision that becomes less random as the film moves on.

Chomping at the bit, Antoine slaps a siren onto his compact car, speeding down a boulevard, bypassing traffic, proclaiming to himself, “Paris is Mine,” while on a routine errand. He’s the first one to get up from his chair at the report of a crime (a body floating in a canal) and is practically beaming on the way to his first crime scene. Veteran cops easily spot Antoine for a rookie right away, what with his big ears and goofy grin.

His new home away from home, the police headquarters, is plastered with crime drama posters like Reservoir Dogs, Taxi Driver, and Se7en, to name a few. So when Caroline asks Antoine why he became a cop, it’s only fitting he answers it’s because of the movies. Though thoroughly professional, her maternal feelings very discreetly show through as Antoine dozes on a train on the way to an investigation; she gently moves his jacket to cover his gun, without disturbing him.

Understated but packing a delicate wallop, Le Petit Lieutenant is the most emotionally appealing of the recent spate of observational and minimalist dramas usually shot vérité style with little intercutting, no imposing musical score, and with a fluid and subtle ensemble. This has been the calling card of the French (Since Otar Left to name one), and Americans have followed suit with last year’s Forty Shades of Blue, Man Push Cart (also opening today in New York), and the upcoming Old Joy. However, a huge difference from these equally character-driven American dramas is that Xavier Beauvois’ film never feels underdeveloped or partially realized. In fact, to remove one sequence from his gritty cop drama would be to loose a lot. Bit by bit, he creates two distinct lead characters, sometimes in the most ordinary circumstances, wrapped around a lean storyline.

As Caroline, her hair often covering her eyes, Nathalie Baye’s performance is low-key and unassuming. It’s a great example of the less-is-more school, following in the taciturn footsteps of the Clint Eastwood prototype. For this performance, Baye won the César for best actress earlier this year. Though Beauvois more than succeeds in his on-the-streets and off-the-cuff approach, you never forget that this is, above all else, a love story of sorts. With its resonant ending, no musical score is necessary; you’ll supply your own melancholy soundtrack in your head. Kent Turner
September 8, 2006