Albatros

Excellent analysis of a gendarmes daily work in a remote part of French countryside. Jeremie Renier awesome, convincing, powerful in his dedicated gendarme role investigating around a man gettig mad about the loss of his farm. It seems to have been made for TV audiences, for a saturday evening program, but it was not. You don't get bored in this story, so realistic, gripping, at a scale I could not stay cold after the viewing of this best Xavier Beauvois's material; an unexpected ending.

A fast paced movie giving a glimpse into the scenes and decisions of an average policeman. Sadly the movie is held back by very weak female roles and leaves you with an unpleasant feeling of imposed patriarchy after watching the movie.

"Albatros " must have taken aback most of Xavier Beauvois's fans ; both his precedent efforts were either based on real facts ("des hommes et des dieux" ) or a depiction of an historic context (women replacing men gone to war); though his 2021 film takes place among the police , it 's not the thriller the first pictures may announce.

It's half chronicle and half faux thriller : the first part may have bore the viewer but it's essential to set up the scenery ; a young policeman (Rénier) with good prospects , a marriage in sight (he's already got a little girl from his partner),a passion for the sea and the ships ;but a cop's life is not that much easy : a dead body discovered in Etretat near "l'aiguille creuse " , an abused child, all these events could be the nitty gritty :but it's not so and the viewer way be frustrated and bewildered; on the other hand, the biker who does not wear any helmet is given a whole scene ; the generally mild policeman is angry with this kid : " the crossroad is dangerous ,and we have to tell the desperate parents fathers about their bereavment "; the question of responsibility will come back to strike a chord with the hero later on .Some problems of our time are evoked :the plight of the farmers , and the anguish of the future : the female cop who has not found her soul mate for she does not want any children, not because it may hinder her career ,but because of the global warming ; if one of these subjects becomes the gist of the movie in the second part,it's only by chance : with a little luck ,things at the farm could have turned fine ,and the cop would have been considered a hero .

The second part does not do what the audience expects :there won't be a trial with the de rigueur brilliant lawyer ,however the unfortunate man finds some support among his colleagues , the psychiatrist is compassionate , but there's a tempest in his skull ,not only on the sea; the audience may be puzzled by an element one must call "gothic " as it notably recalls some Conan Doyle's supernatural sea tales .The use of music is extraordinary ,and Claude Chabrol's influence makes itself more and more felt in these psychological dramas (here "que la bête meure", 1969)

Jeremie Rénier is one of the best European actors of our time ; in a cesar-caliber performance ,he undergoes a complete metamorphosis: from the dynamic self-assured policeman to a human wreck devoured by remorse ,his facial expressions ran the gamut from to incredulity after the tragedy to agony .It's not the first time this actor has played ,without a moment's hesitation ,a thankless part many of his colleagues would have ditched for the role of a successful policeman or the usual brilliant lawyer .

The story takes place in Normandie ,mainly in Fécamp town ; it features a small tribute to Normand actor Bourvil : the ditty the cop's daughter and her school mates perform on stage is none other than "la tactique du gendarme " (from "le roi pandore " 1949);sadly ,the gendarme's tactics might lead to tragic events sometimes.....

Besides having a slow storyline, the movie perpetuates white patriarchal structures. Female characters have far less dialogue and are mostly presented in a traditional role only (wife/mother, grandmother, sweet daughter) and their characters don't go much above that. The only police woman with dialogue is spoken to condescendingly, has to defend her choice of not wanting children and the case she is entrusted with involves children.

The only person of color in the movie has no dialogue at all.

Movie didn't touch nor surprised me in any way.

The structure of this film is classic in character study: a first part focused on establishing the protagonist as a well-adjusted and integral party of his community, a second part showing his isolation and despair following a traumatic (and stupid) incident that throws his life off its carefully constructed rails.

The problem is that each of these parts is far too long and the underlying context (the societal issues with farming in the first part, the mental issues dealing with guilt in the second) are barely noted besides some small moments that the filmmakers almost seemed obliged to put in, and this could have provided better context and depth to the narrative. Although these issues can be guessed, this makes it harder to care, despite the excellent work by Rénier in the lead role.