As humane as it is disturbing, Polisse rifles the files of Paris’ Child Protection Unit in search of successes, failures and all the shades of ambiguity in between. If the movie’s jumpy edits and raw emotions jangle the nerves, that’s intentional: This documentary-mimicking drama is designed to evoke the experience of working a beat that can never become routine.
The film, which won the second-place Prix du Jury at Cannes last year, opens with the questioning of a little girl who says her father “scratches my bottom” while she’s asleep. Has a crime been committed? Hard to say, but many other cases are less hazy: rape, sexual abuse, child endangerment, underage prostitution and even a boy who’s put up for sale. Sometimes the infamy is the bureaucracy itself, which can’t be roused to protect the vulnerable.
Director, co-writer and co-star Maiwenn — she doesn’t use a surname professionally, but she’s the sister of actress-director Isild Le Besco — has grounded every aspect of the film in reality. She took the title from her young son’s misspelling of “police” and the crimes from actual cases. That’s worth keeping in mind, since several of the incidents seem incredible. Even the officers, shockingly but believably, are occasionally reduced to helpless laughter by the absurdity of the stories they’re told.
Simple solutions often elude these cops, who work the multiethnic, relatively downscale neighborhoods of northeast Paris. The script switches quickly and often among storylines and also follows the characters after-hours to show how the pressures of work affect and even define them. Most of the officers, including central players Nadine (My Piece of the Pie star Karin Viard) and Fred (Joey Starr), have chaotic personal lives. They fight to keep families together, yet often live apart from their own spouses and children.
The CPU crew, played by a virtuoso ensemble cast that includes co-writer Emmanuelle Bercot, is a tight group. The cops socialize together, especially after the successful conclusion of a case. Because of the nature of the work, which requires female investigators to interview female victims, there’s a near equal division between men and women.