Pinot simple flic (1984)
The film starts in the 13th arrondissement of Paris in 1984. Robert Pinot is a police officer as ordinary as clumsy. One day, he stops a certain Josyane, a young drug addict who is also doubled as a pickpocket, nicknamed Marylou. Having discovered that she comes from the same village, Nanteuil, then him, he takes compassion for the young girl and decides to take her under his wing to keep her away from Tony, a dangerous dealer with whom she is in love.
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Don't listen to the negative reviews
Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Actor/director Gérard Jugnot started his career in cinema with an important role in 'L'An 01' directed by Jacques Doillon. This film was made in early 1970s. After the success of this film, Jugnot didn't look back at all and worked at a frantic pace in 41 more films before he decided to helm a film as a director. In 1984, he got a great chance to be in the director's chair when he made his directorial début with a comedy film called 'Pinot Simple-Flic". It was a major box office success with 24,18,756 tickets sold in France. For his maiden directorial venture, Gérard Jugnot focused on the professional life of a bumbling police man called Robert Pinot who would go to any extent in order to save a person's life. He learns some hard lessons about life when he gets involved with a young girl who is part of a gang dealing in drugs. Director Jugnot makes good use of his own acting abilities to get into the skin of the inspector character. He would not stop at anything as neither mixing with young thugs nor lack of respect from his colleagues deter him from doing what he does the best. There is hardly any place in the world where he wouldn't think of going in order to fulfill his obligations as a good cop. Pinot Simple Flic is also known to Anglophone viewers as 'Pinot, just a cop', a film with fast pace and plenty of humorous situations. Lastly, it is an ideal film for viewers interested in watching a different type of comedy film from France especially the kind of film which hints at the hidden, untapped potential of an ordinary man to do extraordinary things in life.