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Olivier Marchal was a long-serving police officer in France, including a spell in their anti-terrorism unit, and some of the events depicted in his acclaimed crime thriller 36 Quai des Orfèvres are based on his own experiences.
 
Whilst the police are busy getting drunk at a party, a gang carries out another in a spate of audacious robberies, holding up a security van, killing two guards and making off with millions of Euros.  These men are organised, ruthless and well equipped, and their robberies have made them amongst France’s most wanted criminals.
 

Following a briefing the next day, the chief of police tells Léo Vrinks, head of the OCU (anti-crime unit), that the Superintendent is going to retire so he’s going up a rung and wants Vrinks to become the new chief. The problem is that another detective, Denis Klein, head of the BRI (search and action squad), is equally qualified so the only way to choose between them is to give the job to whoever brings down the group of ruthless criminals.
 
Vrinks investigation is kick-started when Silien, a murder on temporary release from jail contacts him, saying he has information about the gang.  When Vrinks meets Silien, he is blackmailed into providing an alibi for a triple murder in exchange for gaining the identity of someone in the gang.  Now in a position to bring down the gang, the operation is blown when Klein gets drunk, blows their cover and gets Vrinks’ best friend killed in the process.  Using his contacts, Klein manages to ensure that no action is taken against him by internal affairs without a blot on his record.
 

What follows is a battle between two headstrong and immensely skilled policemen who are prepared to bend and break the rules to get what they want. One is compromised and vulnerable and the other is unscrupulous and utterly ruthless.
 
The film is tautly plotted with many important incidents and myriad characters, none of whom are not important.  Events that seem to be inconsequential have long-lasting effects as neither police nor criminals have short memories.  36 hinges on a key event that I won’t divulge here that makes Klein and Vrinks mortal enemies whereas once they had been close friends.
 

Marchal, is his casting of Daniel Auteuil and Gérard Depardieu, has brought together two of France’s leading actors to go head to head on screen, just as Michael Mann did in Heat with American heavyweights Al Pacino and Robert de Niro.  36 has been compared to Mann’s genre classic and rightly so – it’s a thoroughly gripping and extremely well made film with extraordinary performances by the two leads.
 
I had completely overlooked this, never considering it when it was on the movie channels so this opportunity to review the Blu-ray was an unexpected and welcome surprise.  I’ve learnt never to trust the hype and go into films eyes wide open but, in this case, the hype is justified.  Olivier Marchal mentions that the elite of French film critics (possibly the Cahiers du cinéma) didn’t like the film and I can understand why as it’s not your typical French arthouse film but a more American-style thriller of which Michael Mann would be proud.
 

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The Disc
 
Extra Features
The interview with Olivier Marchal is a fascinating insight into his background and the inspiration for the film.  He talks about its reception but says that he wouldn’t change it as he doesn’t see anything wrong with making an American-style film in France if that’s what suits the subject material. 
 
The Making Of comprises behind the scenes footage without any structure as it jumps around between the different shooting days, from location to location and scene to scene but is still an interesting look into how 36 was made. 
 
There are fairly lengthy featurettes on the costumes and weapons which show the lengths they went to in order to make the film as realistic as possible.
 
There are also the Theatrical and Teaser trailers.
 
All the extra features are in French and subtitled in English.
 

The Picture
A stunning 1080p picture with superb colours and contrast, with no sign of blurring, even in the fastest scenes.  The attention to detail is evident with superb set decoration and production design so the film has a sense of realism that helps involve you in ways that so many crime thrillers fail.  There are some incredible set pieces, with shootouts, kidnappings and car crashes, all of which were obviously meticulously planned and executed. 
 

The Sound
A film like this deserves a top notch soundtrack and the DTS-HD Master Audio doesn’t disappoint with crystal clear dialogue and appropriately loud scenes when there is gunfire or music playing.  The surrounds are rarely quiet, whether they are just used for ambient sounds or more bombastic scenes with bullets flying.
 
The optional subtitles are very good and easy to read with no spelling or grammatical errors  though some of the translations are a little odd, possibly because they are in American English – responding to a knock on the door, a characters says ‘Entre’ which is translated as ‘what do you want?’ rather than ‘enter’ or ‘come in’.  These all fit though and won’t bother anyone whose French isn’t near fluent.
 

Final Thoughts
36 Quai des Orfèvres is a classy crime thriller that brings together two of France’s leading actors in leading roles for only the third time in 20 years – they appeared together in Le placard but are probably most famous for playing Jean and Ugolin in Jean de Florette.  Both Daniel Auteuil and Gérard Depardieu are near the peak of their powers and have great support from the entire cast, particularly Valéria Golino who looks fantastic and barely seems to have aged since her performances in Rain Man and the two Hot Shots! Films.
 
This is a highly efficient and gripping thriller that brings the best out of the Blu-ray format with fantastic sound and visuals and deserves a wide audience.  If you like Heat, Ronin or The French Connection, you’ll like this.

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