L'ennemi public n°1 (2008)

Director:

Jean-François Richet

Writers:

Abdel Raouf Dafri (scenario)
Abdel Raouf Dafri (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

19 November 2008 (Belgium)

Genre:

Biography | Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

The story of notorious French gangster Jacques Mesrine. The follow-up film to "Public Enemy No. 1."

Plot Keywords:

Mesrine | France | Gangster | 1970s | Bank Robbery

Awards:

6 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Vincent Cassel	...	Jacques Mesrine
Ludivine Sagnier	...	Sylvie Jeanjacquot
Mathieu Amalric	...	François Besse
Gérard Lanvin	...	Charly Bauer
Samuel Le Bihan	...	Michel Ardouin
Olivier Gourmet	...	Le commissaire Broussard
Michel Duchaussoy	...	Le père de Jacques Mesrine
Myriam Boyer	...	La mère de Jacques Mesrine
Anne Consigny	...	L'avocate de Jacques Mesrine
Georges Wilson	...	Henri Lelièvre
Alain Fromager	...	Jacques Dallier - journaliste pour Minute
Alain Doutey	...	Le président du tribunal à Compiègne
Laure Marsac	...	La journaliste interview
Arsène Mosca	...	Jojo - un policier
Christophe Vandevelde	...	Inspecteur Gégé

Also Known As:

Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 (UK) (USA)
Mesrine: Public Enemy Number One (UK) (alternative spelling) (USA) (alternative spelling)
Mesrine - L'ennemi public n° 1 (France) (poster title)
Mesrine: L'ennemi public n° 1 (France) (promotional title)
Mesrine: Part 2 - Public Enemy #1 (International: English title)
Mesrine: Part II - Public Enemy #1 (International: English title)
Public Enemy No. 1, Part 2 (International: English title)

Runtime:

133 min

Country:

France | Canada

Language:

English | French

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | France:U (with warning) | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Ireland:16 | UK:15 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R15+ | Denmark:15 | Austria:16 | Australia:MA (2009)

Filming Locations:

Algeria

Company:

La Petite Reine

Trivia:

Eva Green and Marion Cotillard were originally set for the roles ultimately taken by Ludivine Sagnier and Cécile De France in this and in L'instinct de mort (2008). It is however unclear as to which actress would have played what role.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When they are in London the apartment is almost certainly French. The style of white beveled tile is never used in British kitchens.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Gangstars (2009) (TV)

More of the same high-octane excitement pretending to be a biopic

Naturally this being the second part of a grand (i.e. two-part) biopic, one would expect this film to slow a little, become more operatic, darken and deepen... not a bit of it. This film is, more or less, as exciting as its predecessor. Clearly, the two Mesrine films are a single 200+ min feature chopped judiciously in half.

The problem for me - and there is a significant problem here - is that Mesrine's story is not substantial enough to bear such opulent retelling. That's not to say there's not enough material. Mesrine is nothing if not a series of chapter-sized episodes and this is the manner in which Richet competently tells the story.

Yet when you're being presented with the Nth crime you begin to look for some extraneous purpose to the action. Though there are a number of opportunities to set up dramatic investigation, Mesrine remains a closed book. He's existentially opaque and no further dramatic enquiry is attempted. It's the same way in which John Dillinger's interests can be listed in a single breath, which also disguises itself as a disarming chat-up line.

I have to say that Richet and Cassel are right to have made the film that they did, as Mesrine strikes me as a rather boring thug. Yet this is the country of Jean Genet, voleur of folklore, a socially criminal outsider entertained and lauded by the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre. Surely there was a better subject for their interest than Mesrine? If not then surely the actual existence of Genet or the successful fictional meditation on crime that Patrice Leconte managed with L'Homme du Train would have informed a different manner in which to dramatise Mesrine's story?

Cassel and Richet have set out to make a matinée thriller and succeeded admirably, despite being disingeniously long-winded. It's not really a 'biopic' so much as an action movie that uses the recollections of a charismatic but monodimensional individual. In this half of the film, all the production plaudits pertain to the same crew once again and the new support cast of significance are as solid and nondescript as in Part 1. 7/10