Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Police Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 16, 2017

Winner of Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival, Maurice Pialat's "Police" (1985) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. There are no supplemental features on this Blu-ray release. In French, with imposed English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The cop

Gerard Depradieu is Louis Mangin, a tough cop who frequently loses his temper. He is single and living in a fancy apartment in the heart of Paris. He often feels lonely, but does not have the desire to share his life with someone special.

While trying to track down the leader of a gang of Tunisian drug dealers, Mangin arrests Noria (Sophie Marceau, L'amour braque, La fidelite), a young and beautiful girl without a permanent address. Convinced that Noria’s boyfriend is one of the gang’s top men, Mangin begins questioning her.

At first, Noria refuses to answer Mangin’s questions, but after she sees him interrogating a local thief who ends up with a broken nose, she concludes that it would be in her best interest to cooperate. Mangin appreciates the change of attitude, and consequently even warms up to her. Then a shady lawyer (Richard Anconina, The Little Gangster, So Long, Stooge) paid by the gang files the necessary paperwork and Noria is released.

Sensing that it is only a matter of time before Mangin and his men arrest the remaining members of the gang, Noria steals her boyfriend’s savings – a bag full of 200,000 francs and a few kilos of cocaine. But his associates quickly discover the missing bag and dispatch one of their own to find her. In the meantime, Noria and Mangin meet again and fall madly in love.

Based on an original script by Catherine Breillat, Maurice Pialat’s Police is loosely divided into two sections. The first offers a fascinating look at police procedure, completely stripped of melodrama and sentimentality. There are long interrogation sessions in which the police brutality becomes rather intimidating, but Pialat isn’t interested in it. Instead, he concentrates on the unique relationships between the cops and the criminals, the manner in which the invisible boundaries separating them are drawn.

The second section has an entirely different tone. It is much more relaxed and peaceful, following a more predictable route. After Mangin and Noria begin seeing each other, Pialat begins analyzing their characters. They are both taken out of their comfort zones and forced to reevaluate what makes them happy. In the process, they make mistakes that again redirect their lives.

The film has the casual atmosphere and type of energy virtually all of Pialat’s films have. Its characters are ordinary people dealing with ordinary situations that present them with dilemmas that seem banal –at least in the beginning. How they approach them is what the film is about, not how they solve them.

This emphasis on the human element is the key reason why Pialat’s films are often compared to John Cassavetes’ films. They are structured around feelings and emotions, not original stories. Almost without exception the characters in these films are people that just happen to be followed by Pialat’s camera – or so one is led to believe.

Police, arguably Pialat’s most mainstream film, was lensed by Italian cinematographer Luciano Tovoli, who also collaborated with the French director on his We Won't Grow Older Together (1972).

Police Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Maurice Pialat's Police arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

The release is sourced from the same restored master that French label Gaumont used for the 2013 release of Police. I like it quite a lot because there are substantial improvements in all major areas that we address in our reviews. My one minor concern is the shift toward slightly colder color nuances which tend to affect the dynamic range in a few darker sequences (see screencapture #14). However, I still find the overall balance to be quite good and in fact very close to that of the R2 DVD release. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening corrections. Image stability is outstanding. (Note This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free Blu-ray player in order to access its content).

Police Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Imposed English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Maurice Pialat's films do not have elaborate music scores. In Police, only at the end there is beautiful ambient music theme that comes up for a couple of minutes. The dialog is stable, clean, and very easy to follow. There are no mastering errors to report.

Police Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, there are no bonus features to be found on this Blu-ray release.

Police Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I think that Police is one of the easiest to like films in Maurice Pialat's oeuvre. Gerard Depradieu and Sophie Marceau are in top form here and the film's energy and intensity never become overwhelming. (Pialat's films are known for their rawness and intensity and are frequently compared to John Cassavetes' films). Olive Films' upcoming Blu-ray release is sourced from the same restored master that was prepared by Gaumont in France and used for the first European Blu-ray release of the film. RECOMMENDED.