Reviewed by Duncan Bain
Stars Vincent Cassel, Cécile De France, Gérard Depardieu,
Gilles Lellouche, Roy Dupuis, Elena Anaya, Michel Duchaussoy, Myriam Boyer,
Florence Thomassin, Abdelhafid Metalsi | Written by Jacques Mesrine & Abdel Raouf Dafri & Jean-François Richet
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £29.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 247 minutes | Directed by Jean-François Richet
It would be increasingly hard to dispute that Vincent Cassel is France’s most prolific and versatile actor living today. His starring role in 1995 Parisian ghetto drama La Haine brought him to the attention of the world; subsequent roles in infamous works such as Dobermann, Eastern Promises, and Irréversible have shown that he’s not averse to the darker end of the cinematic spectrum, while cameos in Hollywood farce like the Ocean’s trilogy have shown his more playful side. The gangster biopic Mesrine deftly marries these elements, bringing out his best.
Mesrine: Killer Instinct
Mesrine: Killer Instinct is an origin story, telling the rise to fame (and infamy) of the notorious French gangster. Starting in the late 1950s, the film tracks 20-something Mesrine’s return from the Algerian War, his dismay at civilian life, and inevitable segue into the criminal underworld. It would seem that Mesrine is something of a Robin Hood cult hero in France, an attitude that is perpetuated in this film. Whether you are familiar with the real-life facts or not, this is an incredibly stylized and stylish portrayal of the man’s life, feeling at many points like a Scorsese and De Palma collaborative project that has been lost in the archives since the mid-70s.
Cassel appears to be channeling Early De Niro, happily losing himself in the role as cheeky anti-hero Mesrine, going through the numerous physical metamorphoses, identities and disguises that the role dictated. Both parts of the Mesrine biopic have been massive box office hits in their native France, and it is easy to see why – a witty script, powerhouse acting performances, the odd flash of ultraviolence, and oozing Gallic style from every pore. Of course, the small matter of subtitles may be enough to deter the curious English-speaking punter, but really shouldn’t be insurmountable to anyone who has any interest in seeing one of the most enthralling and exciting gangster movies of recent history.
Mesrine: Public Enemy Number One
Deftly picking up the narrative from Part 1 without so much as a recap, this is not a sequel so much as a conclusion of Jacques Mesrine's life story. While it is strong enough to exist on its own, audiences would be well advised to see this only after watching the first part.
At the start of this chapter, Mesrine is already well established in the French media as a raffish rogue, ennobled to the public by his daring prison escapes, and enjoying the trappings his notoriety more than the life of crime itself. The opening act sees a capture by the police, the inevitable bold escape from which leads Jacques and the audience on a prolonged road trip as he continues to elude the authorities. Once that journey eventually exhausts his attention, it's back to high profile kidnaps and courting the media – a path that can lead to no good, and one that ultimately brings the audience inexorably back to the first scene from Part 1, and the last of Mesrine's life. Once again, Cassel is on blistering form throughout this, dancing from “Charismatic Media Whore” to “Grotesque Monster” in the blink of an eye, seemingly without qualms about his sometimes absurd metamorphoses, chin-strap beard included.
The film is a bit more Cat-and-Mouse than the former, so we are allowed to spend time with the increasingly frustrated police force, and by the time the credits roll you may find yourself less certain about which side to root for. It's refreshing these days to see a biopic follow the full length of a man's life, rather than just a specific chapter from it, and the combined 2 parts of Mesrine have done that deftly. A rare achievement in itself, hampered in no way by the consistently high production values and acting calibre – miss it at your peril.
EXTRAS *** There's a making-of featurette for each of the two films; a featurette about the actors and their characters; an interview with director Jean-François Richet; deleted scenes; a documentary about the making of the films' music scores; and the trailer.