IMDb listing
Polisse, directed and cowritten by Maïwenn along with Emmanuelle Bercot (who both also costar in the film), is a generally well-regarded French film (subtitled) about the Juvenile Protection Division of the Paris Police Department that recently played in Chicago at Facets' Multimedia.
Well written, the film feels like a potential pilot for a French version of the American television series Law and Order, Special Victims Unit or one of the CSI franchises. The ensemble cast interacts well and the various subplots are often quite compelling and sad.
As someone in my position however, I do have to note that though this unit of Paris' Police Dept was certainly dedicated to protecting minors, the personal morality of the individual members of the unit was often all over the place. At least half of the characters were having affairs with each other, cheating on their spouses and so forth. For a more prudish American (and yes, I'm also a Catholic priest) that personal behavior does inevitably seem rather incongruous to the unit's "mission," THOUGH THIS MAY HAVE BEEN PART OF THE FILM'S POINT.
There's also a rather ambiguous scene in the film that COULD portray INFANTICIDE: a thirteen year-old presented as a rape victim is presented after having had a late term abortion (?) or delivering a stillborn child (?) as asking the nurse to hold the (dead) baby. Then when she has the dead baby in her arms, she apologizes. Why? It's a very strange scene. And it makes it impossible for someone like me give the film a positive review.
Was the scene necessary? No. What was the purpose of the scene's more or less obvious ambiguity except to blur distinctions between STILL BIRTH, ABORTION and EVEN INFANTICIDE? Sigh ... But there we are ...
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