The results, while a bit overlong, are engaging and real.
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09/07/06
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Le Petit Lieutenant (2006)
79
%
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Reviews Counted:52
Fresh:41
Rotten:11
Average Rating:6.9/10
Consensus: A gritty, languidly paced crime drama that blends old-fashioned ambiance with modern cynicism.
Theatrical Release:Sep 8, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: 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... [More]
Starring: Jalil Lespert, Nathalie Baye, Roschdy Zem, Antoine Chappey
Director: Xavier Beauvois
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Reviews for Le Petit Lieutenant
Top CriticHas a clipped, Bressonian quality that makes it frustrating but also increasingly fascinating.
12/14/06
Tragedy, when it comes, does not involve us -- we're kept at arm's length through to the final retribution.
09/05/06
Top CriticFeels like a TV pilot which, perhaps, it was meant to be. But, see it for Baye.
10/14/06
You could call it anything but by-the-book.
09/07/06
Le Petit Lieutenant is an interesting crime thriller that has few conventional thrills but does give a fascinating look into the mechanics of a Parisian homicide squad.
07/23/06
director Xavier Beauvois uses the investigation of one crime...to string together a character piece that is as much about the character of a Parisian homicide squad within a police department as it is a study of some of the individuals who comprise it.
07/09/06
The tough, satisfying French film Le Petit Lieutenant is an austere drama of the sort that rarely makes it to American screens except on cable television.
09/07/06
Top CriticGives the audience a strong sense that you're watching how things really go down in a police station... only without all the action and excitement of a TV cop show.
03/24/07
Basically a vivid meal of characters, plus coffee and wine and one gin tonic, Le Petit Lieutenant keeps true to its brasserie menu.
01/19/07
Xavier Beauvoir deliberately undermines the clichés we've come to expect from the genre... unassuming and effective.
09/07/06
The Young Lieutenant seems so determined to reproduce the drudgery of police work, it's boring for the first hour, and only marginally more exciting for the second.
11/16/05
Top CriticMundane real life can make for some pretty dull viewing, and the only thing that enlivens Beauvois' anti-thriller is Baye's beautiful performance, a career high that culminates in a tip of the hat to her first great director, Francois Truffaut.
09/08/06
A quiet powerhouse of a film, an implacable, uncompromising French police drama, both old-fashioned and modern, that underlines the reasons impeccably made crime stories do so well on-screen.
03/16/07
Top CriticLe Petit Lieutenant spends too much time laying the groundwork for a story that could be told more succinctly, but Beauvois works hard to establish office chemistry and orient Lespert to his new surroundings.
09/08/06
In spite of its improvisational roots, Le Petite Lieutenant feels a little too cleverly thought-out, but this is still a rare police film that uses work to illuminate life.
08/26/06
Still mourning the end of Helen Mirren in TV's Prime Suspect? You might want to give Le Petit Lieutenant a whirl.
02/15/07
So, it can't quite be said that [Xavier Beauvois] is bereft of novel, impressively lurid ideas for murders, because he's expressly against them, if we're to take Antoine's lust for intrigue as our own.
09/06/06
Le Petit Lieutenant shows how good French movies can be when they stay French and don't try to go international.
02/08/07
Top CriticThe movie's realism is unimpeachable, though American cops might be stunned by the idea of a half-dozen detectives being assigned to the murder of an anonymous floater.
01/11/07
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