A 1970s-set serial killer chronicle where cop and assassin turn out to be the very same person, Cédric Anger’s stylish thriller offers a strong central turn from Guillaume Canet while dishing out a number of crafty and suspenseful set-pieces.
Former Cahiers du Cinema critic Anger has directed two other genre pieces (The Killer, The Lawyer) while also penning the script for André Téchiné’s true-story drama, In the Name of My Daughter. So he’s clearly in his element with this ripped-from-the-headlines period piece based on the real case of Alain Lamare, aka “the Oise killer” – a man who terrified a region north of Paris in the winter of 1978 when he gunned down several young women, all the while working as a gendarme responsible for tracking the murderer.
Anger’s screenplay follows the cop – renamed Franck (Canet) – from his first assault on a girl riding her scooter alone at night, through several other attacks, and on through his gradual fall as his fellow lawmen realize that the culprit may be inside their own department.
Jordan Mintzer
The Hollywood Reporter
Please note that the festival is over 18s only
