• Cédric Jimenez evokes rogue police in "Bac Nord".

  • He drew his inspiration from facts alleged against members of the BAC in the northern districts of Marseille for this snarling thriller.

  • Gilles Lellouche, Adèle Exarchopoulos, François Civil and Karim Leklou are featured in this excellent thriller which caused controversy in Cannes.

In 2012, a scandal shook the Anti-Crime Brigade (“BAC”) in the northern districts of Marseille, some of whose members were accused of having participated in various trafficking.

Nine years later,

Cédric Jimenez's

Bac Nord

is freely inspired by these events when the trial of the real police officers ended last April.

This very effective urban western brings together Gilles Lellouche, François Civil, Karim Leklou and Adèle Exarchopoulos around the director of

La French

, himself from Marseille.

The film was presented out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival where it caused controversy.

During the Cannes press conference, a journalist even took the filmmaker to task by accusing him of inciting to vote for the far right by defending the police.

Do not stigmatize the Marseille population

“I don't think the film is there to denounce areas of lawlessness and to stir up anger.

On the contrary, said the filmmaker in response.

I tell of the anger because I chose the point of view of the police ”

.

Cédric Jimenez shows how his characters, a trio of hotheads, are trained to cross the yellow line that leads to delinquency by a hierarchy that always wants more results.

Its nervous staging plunges the viewer into the heart of difficult neighborhoods.

"

It is a focus on a case, on two or three cities that pose a problem, on police officers who are not angels… But opposite, they are not angels either,

 ”

insists the filmmaker who vigorously defends himself against 'wanting to stigmatize the entire Marseille population.

Virtuoso sequences

A cut-the-line scenario co-written by Cédric Jimenez and Audrey Diwan leaves no respite to the public by leading them to reflect on the situation and the reasons for this surge of violence.

The film is not a call to hatred. 

Bac Nord

is an excellent detective film with anxiety.

It offers virtuoso sequences like a siege scene of rare intensity.

More than women and men, it is the institutions that this work brocades, which gives no gifts to its protagonists.

There is as much intelligence as cinema in this thriller which confirms that Cédric Jimenez is one of the French masters of the genre.

For the rest, each and everyone will form their own opinion on the solutions to be provided after enjoying a surly entertainment that leaves you breathless.

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Cannes Film Festival: “But why do all the paths of characters filmed in Marseille go through the prison box?

"

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Cannes Film Festival: Valérie Lemercier, Gilles Lellouche and Asghar Farhadi echoing on the Croisette

  • Police

  • Cannes film festival

  • Adèle Exarchopoulos

  • Marseilles

  • Gilles lellouche

  • Movie theater