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LE PETIT LIEUTENANT Send This Review to a Friend
Superb French actress Nathalie Baye is very human in her excellent, engrossing portrayal of Police Inspector Caroline Vaudieu in “Le Petit Lieutenant,” a stellar attraction in the 2006 edition of the Rendez-Vous with French Films series presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in collaboration with Unifrance and the French Film Office/Unifrance USA, and now in commercial release. Baye plays a cop who has lost a son and has been an alcoholic. The stress of the job poses an ever-lurking threat to drive her back to drink and wreck her comeback into a position of authority.
The role on a superficial level is somewhat akin to what Helen Mirren has done in her British series, but Vaudieu’s territory is Paris and Baye has worked out her own persona and characteristics for the demanding part. Encountered at a luncheon given in honor of the series, the directors and stars who attended, Baye said there was no particular key to what she accomplished. “It’s mainly trust” she said, “trust in the director.”
The director in this case is Xavier Beauvois, and working from a screenplay on which he collaborated with Guillaume Breaud and Jean-Eric Troubat, he has packed the film with every-day atmosphere and dramatic tension. Also key in the film is the role of Antoine, newly graduated from the police academy and bursting with enthusiasm about becoming a cop. Jalil Lespert plays him compellingly as he comes up against the reality of the life and the dangers that must be faced.
There are complications, of course, as we are led through efforts to capture unsavory, murderous characters. The situation is trying for Vandieu, who faces a crisis when events suddenly threaten to tear apart her recovery and her efforts to be good at what she does. Much is fascinating in this police drama, but it is the performance by Baye that carries the most impact.
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