Mesrine: L’instinct du Mort & L’ennemi Public N°1 (The Death Instinct & Public Enemy #1)

France/Canada/Italy | 2008 | Directed by Jean-Francois Richet

Logline: The story of France’s public enemy #1; Jacques Mesrine, and his colourful criminal career as a gangster.

This is by far the best French movie in years, an instant modern classic, packed full of vibrant characters, intrigue, and action. Vincent Cassel in the titular role delivers a career performance, stealing almost every scene he’s in (and he’s in pretty much every scene!), but still allowing the colourful narrative to drive the movie whilst he simply chews the scenery with a wink and a punch.

Separated into two parts (much like Steven Soderbergh did with his Che biopic), Mesrine’s tale is based on two individual accounts; the first is from Mesrine’s own words, penned whilst he was doing time and smuggled out and published; L’instinct de Mort (The Death Instinct). This begins with Mesrine’s return from his time as a soldier in the late 50s, and his involvement with mob boss Guido (Gerard Depardieu), his marriage to Spanish belle Sofia (Elena Anaya), and his trail of bank robberies and human collateral damage.

The second part; Public Enemy #1, is based on the account of one of the detectives involved in the operation that resulted in his public assassination in 1979 (a sting that was applauded by the then French president). Both parts are equally dynamic and powerful, bringing to mind the virtuoso cinematic storytelling of Martin Scorsese’s a. Director Richet’s confidence shines throughout the two parts, showing excellent understanding of actors’ nuances, and mise-en-scene.

One of the more interesting elements to this biopic is how Mesrine is portrayed not as a black and white gangster, but a man with extraordinary charm, yet capable of being a complete bastard, a killer and a lover, sly and intuitive, but often reckless and pigheaded. Mesrine was an arrogant man much of the time, but he did not suffer fools gladly (and those that betrayed him did not escape lightly). Cassel gained 20kg to play the role (the movie was then shot in reverse chronology to enable Cassel to easily shed the weight for the younger Mesrine). Mesrine was a master of disguise, which is one of the reasons he managed to elude capture for so long. However he did do long stretches of time in prison … and he escaped too. You just can’t keep a good bad man tied down.

Apart from Depardieu, other notable support cast include weasel-eyed Mathieu Amalric as nervous criminal Besse, Cecile De France as Jeanne Schneider, the striking brunette who became Mesrine’s partner in crime as well as his bedfellow, Roy Dupois as Mercier, the Canadian criminal who hooks up with Mesrine on numerous jobs, and svelte Ludivine Sagnier as Mesrine’s last girlfriend, Sylvia, who was with him in his brand new BMW the day he was killed (in reality she was seriously injured, but the movie avoids this detail).

Although shot in a “Hollywood” style, Mesrine still manages to be distinctly French, exuding class and verve, a stylish high calibre entertainment. The double-whammy feature joins the ranks of the greatest gangster movies of all time, up there with The Godfather (Parts I & II), Scarface, Once Upon a Time in America, and Goodfellas, essential viewing for gangsterheads and cinephiles.

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Mesrine double-disc DVD is courtesy of Madman Entertainment, many thanks!