MR73 DVD Review

There's a very fluffy cat in MR73. And I mean very fluffy. Strangely, it's this furry feline that holds the key to what makes Olivier Marchal's police thriller tick. The third film in the policeman-turned-film director's thematic trilogy on police corruption, MR73 follows the Heat-esque 36 Quai Des Orfèvres (2004) and Gangsters (2002) as a bleak and stylish vision of modern policing in France. Whilst Orfèvres was the best received (nominated for 8 Cesar Awards) and had the double act of Depardieu and Auteuil to create some extra PR, it's perhaps MR73 that's the most uncompromising.

Again starring the superb Auteuil, it centres on his washed-up, alcoholic Marseille cop, Schneider. Whilst investigating a gruesome series of present day murders, he chances upon the daughter of a murdered couple whose killer he put away 25 years ago. Only it's parole time, and said murderer is getting released. With a wife on life support, a dead daughter, and politics thwarting his efforts at every turn, Schneider staggers through the movie, a ruined, guilt-ridden shell in search of redemption.

MR73 is very much Auteuil's show and is all the better for it. Hiding enormous crow's feet under red tinged sunglasses, bestubbled and sweating alcohol, Schneider is truly a man in pain. Our first encounter finds him heavily drunk, instructing a bus driver at gunpoint to take him home, as astonished passengers look on. Turning in a thoroughly convincing performance, he stays just the right side of parodying the films policier evoked by the piece, with enough humanity left to make you actually care how he ends up. Auteuil brings a distinct French flair to what could so easily become over-cooked and unintentionally comic. Marchal too brings a welcome sense of style to the film, shooting with a de-saturated colour palette that renders the world in a stark, noirish contrast of blacks and whites. Sunny days are bleached out , almost colourless, and his world seems to be populated by people who dress solely in black. At times these aspects do verge on parody, as police chief Marie Angeli seems to have walked off the set of another Matrix sequel, so sleek is her get-up.

Other elements are kept far more in check, with the action scenes sparse and mostly effective. No slo-mo or extended gunplay here, just harsh, blunt acts of violence, that come and go in a flash. Which brings me to the cat. The point at which our fluffy friend is mistreated (let's leave it at that for now) is the point at which you're at once in total empathy with Schneider and this grim world of his. Somehow avoiding the cheap emotion of a 'drowning kittens' scenario, it perfectly encapsulates Schneider's losing battle.

What could've become a tiresomely bleak and dreary narrative is saved by a compelling central performance from Auteuil and a plot that makes little concession to audience pleasing set pieces. Less easily digested than Orfèrvres it demands more patience and is certainly no action flick, but get over the occasional clichés and it's a compelling, affecting and stylish character piece.

MR73 is out on R2 DVD from 3rd May 2010 through Optimum Home Entertainment.