MOVIE NIGHT: L.627 (1992), dir. by Bertrand Tavernier
MOVIE NIGHT: L.627 (1992), dir. by Bertrand Tavernier
A gritty policier, with plenty of drugs, corruption, and so much [checks notes] paperwork
How to watch: Criterion Channel1
Niveau de français: Medium
Police work is paperwork. In Bertrand Tavernier’s L.627, it’s a lot of other things, too—knocking off for three-hour lunches at a Moroccan joint where the owner needs some parking tickets taken care of, scraping off a few grams of coke from your most recent bust to slip to your favorite indic—but mostly it’s the steady bureaucratic conversion of the infinite varieties of human malice into crimes and infractions recognizable by the state. If the movie had a soundtrack, it would be the steady click-clack of the manual typewriters with which our bons poulets write their reports, machines that were considered ancient even at the time.
Here’s Céline (Lara Guirao), our hooker with a heart of gold, chatting with Lulu (Didier Bezace), our newbie on the Vice Squad, just after Céline’s been picked up for taking a thick wad of cash off a john:
Même quand j’ai commencé dans la boîte d’interim le plus naze, je n’ai jamais tapé sur des reliques comme ça.2
So many fun terms here, including boîte d’interim (temp agency), and le plus naze (the crappiest/shittiest), giving us something like:
Even at my worst temp job, I never worked on relics like this.
It’s the late eighties: track jackets, perms, heroin, AIDS. No one is clean in L.627, but no one is appreciably dirtier than anyone else, and all things considered, it’s an innocent time: Lulu wants to go after high-level dealers, but for the brass an arrest for a gram is as good as one for a key. These are cops that slip in the mud when trying to tackle a suspect, and get their arms bitten while trying to get the cuffs on. When they seize cash from a bust, they have trouble doing the math to split the shares.
Nothing works like it should—if the van is leaking oil, you’ll still have to fill up the tank before you can check it in for servicing. As the head mechanic explains:
La logique, c’est la logique. Mais les règlements sont les règlements!
Bertrand Tavernier, who passed away a few years ago, was an extraordinarily prolific and accomplished French director, whose nearest American analogue is probably Martin Scorsese, although he does not share Marty’s grim view of human nature. Tavernier’s films, though they often confront the most dramatic and tragic moments in French history—including the Ancien Régime, WWI, and the Occupation—are invariably buoyant, fast-paced, and funny. When I watched the film, I immediately thought of Virginie Despentes’ 2015 novel Vernon Subutex (which I reviewed here)—both Tavernier and Despentes delight in showing us a Paris that’s nothing like what you see on the postcards. Many of the characters in Vernon Subutex, in fact, could easily have appeared as teenage punks on the mean streets of L.627, a reference to the French penal code outlawing the sale and intake of stupéfiants. (More paperwork.)
L.627 was a success in France, nominated for four Césars (the French equivalent of the Oscars) but Tavernier has sadly never had the staying power of his contemporaries in the Nouvelle Vague, like Truffaut and Godard. What Tavernier lacks is an instantly recognizable style, like Jean-Pierre Melville, whose manly code-of-honor caper films like La Deuxième Souffle (1966) and Le Cercle Rouge (1970) were long the gold standard of policiers. Tavernier’s film reflects a new approach to the genre, stripping away the bromance between Melville’s gentleman cops and monkish robbers to reveal the rapaciousness, grinding poverty, and ordinary stupidity that lie behind most street crime. What’s left is a fascinating look into the infinite indignities and the small, but precious liberties granted to the Vice Squad by virtue of their hallowed place within this seething network of corruption, violence, and urban decay. The groupe de stups’ is for those who can’t hack it in the straight world: outcasts, dimwits, dreamers, drunks. They can punch down, but moving up? That’s a different story.
Sorry yes, this is the only way right now to stream this film. For those of you who may not know, Criterion Channel is the MOST AMAZING STREAMING PLATFORM ON EARTH (YES BETTER THAN NETFLIX) with a near-infinite library of most incredible foreign and independent films of all time. It is also the best $10.99/mo you’ll ever spend—seriously, if it’s between subscribing to Criterion and subscribing to this Substack . . .
As always, corrections welcome—nay, encouraged: pariscityoflit@gmail.com