Sound of the Polisse Cinémoi reviews Maïwenn’s curious new film Polisse; a police procedural that feels more like a family drama...

As much as Polisse is study on the sensitive inner workings of a child protection unit in the French police, it is also about teamworkand the pressures, fractures and discomfort of working with a variety of different personalities. And like many tight-knit groups,there is a family dynamic to the relationships between one another.In Polisse there are plenty of arguments and disagreements,but there is also plenty of joking and poking fun. Tensions mayat times run high within the group but, for the most part, theyare a loyal and devoted family.

In part, they must be loyal and faithful to each other because of the vital work they do to protect children from heinous crimesand criminals. This does not prohibit, however, their human side from shining through. Even though their job deals with often themost deplorable of crimes, director Maïwenn makes an excellentpoint of bringing out the humorous and frivolous side of theirworking environment. As a result, there is a fluidity of genresrunning through Polisse. Ostensibly a drama, there are largesegments of comedy where the group make fun of seeminglysensitive situations. Perhaps some of them have become sodesensitised to their work and its horrors that humour is theonly defense.

WordsBy

Jack Jones

“Above all, Polisse is about the importance and value of a family

bond”In some ways the humour can be perceived as insensitive towards the seriousness ofthe CPU’s role in protecting children. But Polisse is not without its moments of required biteto make you sit up and take notice. In fact, some of the brilliance of Maïwenn’s style is in its suddenand sharp undercutting of the comic interludes with a sense of hysteria and drama in certain scenes that really grab your attention. Scenes of children being taken by a police raid of an illegalcamp shows the tragedy of tearing children from their parents. Maïwenn beautifully contraststhis harrowing scene with a musical number that wouldn’t be out of place in Spike Lee’sGet On The Bus. Though the ethics of what the CPU do can be debated, what is depicted hereis their loving skill and care of children. Something that is shockingly lacking from some of thefilm’s interspersed antagonists.

Maïwenn also throws a romantic element into the mix in the shape of herself as a roaming photographer who aims to capture a behind-the-scenes look of the CPU. Her character isessentially a representation of herself as the director as she mostly sits in the backgroundwith very little dialogue, observing the emotions and situations of the group. Her character’srelationship with Fred (played by musician JoeyStarr), the most passionate and volatile of the group,feels somewhat forced and out of place as most of the fascination with Polisse is in the groupdynamics, not the individual stories.

In its failings, Polisse tries too hard to capture each individual story and leaves some charactersfeeling undercooked. Though it is well played, the romantic arc of Polisse deters from the realfocus of the film: the children

Above all, Polisse is about the importance and value of a family bond and even though by the end this point is forced down your throat in an ungainly and unnecessary fashion, that is a thought to hold on to.

An Interview withM a i w e n nA year after Cannes festival 2011, you are still promoting your movie Polisse. How are you dealing with it and did you expect such a success?

No, we did not anticipate such a tsunami. But it did not happen all at once. First, we went to Cannes and received a magical welcome. Then, the pressure dropped a bit and it was only the promo-tion of the movie. Its national release was amazing. The last stage was the César ceremony and now it is mainly the promotion abroad. I realised that at the moment I am the most efficient in interviews as it long after making the movie.

You said that you saw a documentary on French television about a child protection unit in Paris and that you went for an internship there. When did you decide to make this movie?

At that point in my life, I already knew what my next film would be about. I was watching a lot of movies about the police. I also wanted to make a love story

“It is important to believe in

what you see. As I often say, life is a bad scenario.

It is full of cliches and

caricatures ”about opposite people and a movie with a lot of action. When I saw this documentary it helped me choose a frame and I decided to focus on this specific child protection unit. As for the internship, it helped me a lot. I needed it. Also, I think it is logical that when dealing with a topic you know nothing about one needs to do a bit of a research about it. For my two previous movies, the one about family – Forgive me - and the other about actresses - The Ball of the Actresses - I was familiar with those worlds. But for Polisse I had to experience it myself otherwise it would have ended up being a collection of the movies I had watched on the topic.

Do you make a movie to learn things?

No, I do not think so. We learn while making it. Actually it is very exciting to have to learn in order to write. But it can also be overwhelming and one feels dependant of others and I do not like this. For Polisse I constantly watched over in order not to make any mistakes. Since the movie only lasts two hours, I must have taken some shortcuts. I am sure that I did not respect the protocol at times but it was necessary for the movie.

The performance of rap singer Joey Starr - openly known to have taken positions against the police in his songs - was well praised in the press. What made you decide to work with him?

He already acted in my previous movie (The Ball of The Actresses) in which I saw his potential. After that, I wanted to write a movie for him and that was Polisse. The shooting was very intense, but it was the case for everybody.

Your movie emphasised the deep friendship of the police officers working at the child protection unit (CPU). Is this portrayal directly taken from your own experience at the CPU?

I noticed during the internship that they had a real bond between them. Nevertheless I romanticised it in the movie. It is always nicer to show a friendly and close group of people. But, in reality, there is a lot of competition even though the police officers know that their job is to save children’s lives. Among them there is this desire to be the fastest and the strongest. It is also a very enclosed universe. They basically work and live together all the time. What also struck me is that they have a very characteristic type of humour. A first, I found it morbid but after a couple of days, I started to use it myself. I understood that it is their shield. It is their way of protecting themselves. They are doing a job and they laugh about it.

The movie often plays with contrasts. There is the character of a “nerdy” police officer who is bullied by his colleagues and also that of policewoman with north-African origins who deals with her dual nationality. Do you care about those topics personally or are they purely fictional?

First of all, this is what I saw during my internship. But the intellectual character played by Jérémie Elkaïm is purely fictional. I based this character on his own personality. Often it is when contrasts meet that it makes people laugh. It is elements like these that make a movie more bearable. Even when it is dramatic I always try to introduce “lighter” moments. It is also a good way to show that we are not taking ourselves seriously. Besides, a dramatic scene will always be more dramatic if there is some comedy in it and, a comedy will always be funnier with a bit of drama. I do not like monochromic emotions or characters. It looks more real when everything is not either in black or white.

Is it important for you to show the truth?

Yes, it is my obsession when I write, shoot and edit my movies. It is important to believe in what you see. But you also have to be careful because reality can be dull. As I often say, life is a bad scenario. It is full of clichés and caricatures. As a director you have to restructure reality so that it becomes another one, one that is believable in movies. There is a difference between truth in life and the one in movies.

Another important part of the movie is that you had to shoot with children under age. They had to repeat difficult lines. How did the casting go and how was it to shoot with them?

Most of our job was done during the casting. I tried to select children who were not used to acting in movies or commercials. I wanted to have a real access to their personality. If they were too trained, it would not work. In the end, we had both professional and amateur children but they all felt comfortable working with me. They were pretty flexible as well. They were the most eager ones to work on set!

“the DDASS thought that they would not realise that my movie is

fictional. For them, acting in a horror movie was safer than in

mine”

And you could not shoot any suggestive scenes with them?

No. In France there is a social service called the DDASS and their role - among many others- is to protect children on set. It is good that it exists but I felt that they were taking the kids for idiots some times. For some reason, the DDASS thought that they would not realise that my movie is fictional. For them, acting in a horror movies was safer than in mine because at least in a horror movie they would understand that it is not real. Luckily, when I was editing I realised that I only took out explicit scenes and crude language. It was actually more powerful without. It is more frightening to imagine those scenes than seeing them.

Finally, why did you decide to write the title of the movie that way (Polisse instead of police)?

I could not use “Police” as it already refers to a famous movie made by Maurice Pialat. At first I wanted to write it phonetically with a spelling mistake (paulise in French) but it was not justified. It is only when I saw it written by my son with a mistake - Polisse - and in his hand-writing that it made sense to me. On the poster it looks like it is written by a child because it deals with a child’s protection unit.

Interview conducted by Sarah Bonnefoi