Often French films use Anglo-American genres to interesting effect. This was as true of "A bout de soufflé" / "Breathless" and the cop movies of that period as it is here. I don't know Beauvois' (the director's) work very well, but here, as several comments have pointed out, he is using the conventions of the contemporary Anglo-Am "procedural" crime dramas (especially the various Helen Mirren ones). To me, the film succeeds and is quite enjoyable, largely thanks to very strong and striking performances by Jalil Lespert as the "young lieutenant" Antoine Derouere of the title, and Nathalie Baye in the role of his commanding officer, Commandant Vaudieu.
Both these actors are terrific. Lespert was great in the taut labor drama "Human Resources" (1999) and Baye is of course a major figure. With a fine supporting cast, they develop very strong characters and a moving drama that doesn't heroize or fetishize the police apparatus (as Anglo-American procedural films almost invariably do), but rather humanizes it and emphasizes the suffering and loss that it involves. Rather than magically resolving and banishing fears and social responsibility by projecting responsibility for crime onto irrational others, as Anglo-American police dramas do, this film recognizes the irreducible problems that police workers face, and dramatizes the lives of realistically-developed characters, not the fantasy figures that populate most dramas of this kind.
So yes, the film does refer to Anglo-Am procedural dramas and the Helen-Mirren type of character, but it develops these in very interesting ways that go beyond the Anglo-Am subgenre. Lespert and Baye deliver very strong performances, and the film is a good illustration of how some French directors and writers can take popular genres and give them twists that would be difficult to find in the English-language versions. No fantasy explosions or violence- or cadaver- porn, but a moving drama about human experience in a sadly violent social order.
Also, a great strong role for a middle-aged woman, which one doesn't see every day. This seemed to me one of Baye's stronger recent films.
Both these actors are terrific. Lespert was great in the taut labor drama "Human Resources" (1999) and Baye is of course a major figure. With a fine supporting cast, they develop very strong characters and a moving drama that doesn't heroize or fetishize the police apparatus (as Anglo-American procedural films almost invariably do), but rather humanizes it and emphasizes the suffering and loss that it involves. Rather than magically resolving and banishing fears and social responsibility by projecting responsibility for crime onto irrational others, as Anglo-American police dramas do, this film recognizes the irreducible problems that police workers face, and dramatizes the lives of realistically-developed characters, not the fantasy figures that populate most dramas of this kind.
So yes, the film does refer to Anglo-Am procedural dramas and the Helen-Mirren type of character, but it develops these in very interesting ways that go beyond the Anglo-Am subgenre. Lespert and Baye deliver very strong performances, and the film is a good illustration of how some French directors and writers can take popular genres and give them twists that would be difficult to find in the English-language versions. No fantasy explosions or violence- or cadaver- porn, but a moving drama about human experience in a sadly violent social order.
Also, a great strong role for a middle-aged woman, which one doesn't see every day. This seemed to me one of Baye's stronger recent films.