L'instinct de mort (2008)

Director:

Jean-François Richet

Writers:

Jacques Mesrine (book)
Abdel Raouf Dafri (scenario)

Release Date:

22 October 2008 (Belgium)

Genre:

Action | Biography | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

The story of french gangster Jacques Mesrine, before he was called Public Enemy N°1. |

Plot Keywords:

Mesrine | Gangster | Female Nudity | Torture | Prison Torture

Awards:

6 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Vincent Cassel	...	Jacques Mesrine
Cécile De France	...	Jeanne Schneider
Gérard Depardieu	...	Guido
Gilles Lellouche	...	Paul
Roy Dupuis	...	Jean-Paul Mercier
Elena Anaya	...	Sofia
Michel Duchaussoy	...	Pierre André Mesrine - le père de Jacques Mesrine
Myriam Boyer	...	La mère de Jacques Mesrine
Florence Thomassin	...	Sarah
Abdelhafid Metalsi	...	Ahmed - le proxénète
Gilbert Sicotte	...	Le milliardaire
Deano Clavet	...	Roger André
Mustapha Abourachid	...	Le harki
Ludivine Sagnier	...	Sylvie Jeanjacquot
Sofiane Benrazzak	...	Le Fellagah #1 (as Sophiane Benrezzak)

Also Known As:

Mesrine: Killer Instinct (UK) (USA)
Mesrine: L'instinct de mort (France) (poster title)
Mesrine: Part 1 - Death Instinct (International: English title)
Nemico pubblico n. 1 - L'istinto di morte (Italy)
Public Enemy Number One (Part 1) (International: English title)

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

France | Canada | Italy

Language:

French | English | Arabic | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Australia:MA | Norway:15 | Germany:18 | Ireland:16 | France:U (with warning) | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R15+

Filming Locations:

Monument Valley, Utah, USA

Company:

La Petite Reine

Trivia:

Barbet Schroeder was originally hired to direct the two Mesrine movies. He went on to direct Inju, la bête dans l'ombre (2008) starring Benoît Magimel, who was at one point attached as the lead in this project.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: As Jean-Paul waits on the platform of the Montreal metro, a "Stand clear of the doors" sticker can clearly be seen. These were only introduced in 2001.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Gangstars (2009) (TV)

An expensive TV-film

The whole media thing about the Mesrine project should not be involved in one's artistic appreciation of this movie. Yet it is expensive, full of "provocative" elements, and exhibits under-employed movie stars, this is a shallow movie. The trendy steady-cam, and the outrageous amount of special effects do not make a great movie, but an expensive shallow bio-pic. Though one should be grateful to the French film industry for making a capitalistic effort, and trying to get rid of its habit of producing one sociological essay after another, Mesrine L'instinct de Mort has no substance. The narration is abrupt, without bringing any creative element but blur confusion, and dialogs are a sum of clichés, probably written in one afternoon on a restaurant napkin. E.g. the Spanish wife of Mesrine, who ridiculously mixes French and Spanish words in a lame attempt of realism ("I will go back to mi padre y madre's house" !).

Depardieu and Cassel are brilliant, it is a fact. But their characters are probably far below their true ability to be picturesque, and it is in vain that the viewer would try to understand their dramatic (or biographic) interest.

I really believe this movie is overrated, and the critic certainly salutes a desperate mobilization of energy in a dying French film industry, rather than its artistic, or informative value.