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dcOK, so I decided in favour of the cinema (didn't decide until I was in the city centre, though). Good choice. Being wedged in that seat helped my back no end (on the other hand, the wait for the bus didn't help, so a bit of swings and roundabouts there), and the film (L'ennemi public No. 1) was good. Not exactly a film to describe as enjoyable, but gripping. Rather more wobbling hand-held camera work than in the first part (L'instinct de mort), I think, and not always to good effect. Didn't spoil it, though.
Although Mesrine was a brutal character, there's humour in the films and some touching scenes. The problem with films about real people is the impossibility of really getting inside their heads and understanding what made them tick; even more so with someone like Mesrine, who was acutely aware of his public image and played to it whenever possible. Vincent Cassel's performance is superb, the depiction of someone who is capable of tenderness and good humour and vicious brutality is completely convincing, without ever letting you think "the guy's all right, really." The most troubling things in the films, though, weren't the actions of Mesrine and his accomplices, they were the behaviour of the authorities: the special detention unit in Canada seems to have been basically a torture unit if part one is accurate; and then there is the assassination of Mesrine by the police in Paris (the way the films are structured, this is really not a spoiler for anyone who doesn't know the end of his story) — I would like to think things are different today....
Although Mesrine was a brutal character, there's humour in the films and some touching scenes. The problem with films about real people is the impossibility of really getting inside their heads and understanding what made them tick; even more so with someone like Mesrine, who was acutely aware of his public image and played to it whenever possible. Vincent Cassel's performance is superb, the depiction of someone who is capable of tenderness and good humour and vicious brutality is completely convincing, without ever letting you think "the guy's all right, really." The most troubling things in the films, though, weren't the actions of Mesrine and his accomplices, they were the behaviour of the authorities: the special detention unit in Canada seems to have been basically a torture unit if part one is accurate; and then there is the assassination of Mesrine by the police in Paris (the way the films are structured, this is really not a spoiler for anyone who doesn't know the end of his story) — I would like to think things are different today....