15/07/2024 - Julien Paolini immerses Syrus Shahidi and Alexis Manenti in the margins of Paris's working-class Château Rouge neighbourhood, delivering a dark detective movie about a policeman seeking redemption

"The law of karma explains that in order to be free and reach nirvana, every suffering being must re-live their suffering until they find an answer". In the opening credits of Karmapolice by Julien Paolini (due for release in French cinemas on 17 July via À Vif Cinémas), and followed by an entire series of impressive black and white photos depicting a version of Paris light years away from touristic clichés, with streets paved with misery and crack and crawling with police, this quote very clearly sets the tone of this fierce film, which refuses to sugar-coat reality while exploring the pain of the present and ghosts in need of exorcism. Paolini’s is an incredibly low-budget second feature film which is as hard-hitting and seedy as you like. It scooped the Grand Prize for Best Detective Film in Cognac in 2023 and confirms the singularity of this French-Italian director, who previously turned heads with Amare Amaro [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and who will likely express himself more amply in his forthcoming work, Le Raïs de Palerme (set to star Roschdy Zem in the lead role).

"The squad won’t be the same without Angel the Hero (…) If you keep quiet, everything will be ok". For over two months now, police inspector Angelo (a Serpico-style Syrus Shahidi) has been on sick leave, taking medication for depression. He and his partner Pauline (Karidja Touré) - who loves and supports him but who isn’t aware of all of his thoughts - move temporarily into an apartment at the heart of a very working-class district called Château Rouge. At a loose end and unable to sleep, Angelo wanders the streets and soon notices ambiguous Poulet (the brilliant Alexis Manenti) who knows the area and its underground wheeler-dealings like the back of his hand and who’s a regular at the local community centre ("I carry out small-scale favours, I smooth the edges"). Worried about a drug-addicted female neighbour across the hall (Hortense Ardalan), who’s clearly under the thumb of a certain Anselme (Steve Tientcheu) – a dangerous slumlord and crack dealer whom no-one has ever really seen - Angelo involves himself in Poulet’s activities and embarks upon an underground investigation that’s wholly incomprehensible in the eyes of Pauline (who’s trying to find them a home in another area) and Angelo’s colleague Kemar (Foëd Amara), with whom he shares an onerous secret. But Angelo’s idealism and his seething emotions are sorely put to the test…

A captivating portrait of Paris through the looking glass ("it stinks of piss, it’s swarming with people and energy", "it takes all sorts to make a country like France") of a kind recently depicted in Sons of Ramses [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Clément Cogitore
film profile], and an incisive tableau of a man teetering on the precipice, torn between personal morals and accommodation (with the flexibility of an inside man) of a neighbourhood which "leaves no-one unscathed", Karmapolice is a highly schizophrenic film whose two main characters carry out their affairs in a bar called Le Titanic. On the porous boundary between lies and truth, this nerve-wracking deep dive into the darkness plays with classic detective movie codes, as well as with fantastical symbolism (hands come out of walls, buildings have hidden entrances, corridors ooze a murky atmosphere), and it isn’t afraid of its own shadow, despite its ultimate creepiness. This results in a bold, raw and troubling (sometimes even disturbing) film and a B-side which stands out in the French film landscape.

Karmapolice is produced by La Réserve and Cousines et Dépendances, in co-production with Charly’s Films, Dinosaures, Sugar Mama Productions, Kallouche Cinéma, French Flair Entertainment and S’imagine Film.

(Translated from French)