Solid police drama set in Paris. Natalie Baye gives a nuanced performance and the other actors keep up with her, making this movie an unvarnished look at the lives of cops in the city.

Intéressant. Je crois qu'on a toutefois peut-être un peu trop exploité le domaine de l'intrigue policière, alors qu'on aurait peut-être du forcé sur le côté sentimental de la chose. Beauvois a tenté de se rattraper avec la fin du film (30 dernières secondes de toute beauté...) mais ça n'a pas suffit pour exprimer toute la misère du monde ressentie par ce petit lieutenant...

Brilliant flic drama done in cinema verite style. Great acting, script, neo-realist feel.

Nathalie Baye at her best in a roll of police officer showing physical and emotional exhaustion, the poison that works its way inside, the meaninglessness of trying to hold back the tide of crime and the impossibility of suppressing human nature at its ugliest.

Really really boring. I suppose that's the whole point of the movie though to get an inside look of what it's really like to be a cop and show that it's not all fun and games. I couldn't sit through more than 21 minutes of this thing so I should probably watch the whole thing before writing about it but i'm pretty sure that if the synopsis for the movie was a little more interesting then the rest of the movie would be too. But for me it wasn't.

Le quotidien d'un jeune flic normand qui rêve de venir vivre la grande vie de flic de la PJ sur le terrain à Paris, parce qu'au Havre (où sa femme est toujours institutrice) "va y avoir qu'un meurtre par an et ça sera un mec bourré à la sortie d'une boite". Pas parmi les premiers de sa promo, il n'en est pas moins zélé et plein de certitudes sur tout. Il devient vite la mascotte de l'équipe et trépigne d'impatience de voir son premier cadavre. Pour une fois, pas de super flic à la Olivier Marchal (dont j'aime bien le cinéma aussi mais qui se veut résolument tourné vers le spectacle), on est plus proche de la série "PJ" de France 2 (ceci n'est pas une insulte) que des bad boys de "Braquo" : des SDF balancés dans la Seine, le travail laborieux de l'investigation de terrain (planque, enquête de voisinage, auditions où la barrière de la langue vient poser problème), les cicatrices laissées par le passé, la cellule familiale recréée au sein de l'équipe, les problèmes familiaux... Du flic humain, en veux-tu ? En voilà. Jalil Lespert se débrouille pas trop mal et est assez crédible en jeune flic zélé et toujours ravi de ce qui lui arrive. Dommage qu'on ne puisse pas en dire autant de Nathalie Baye. J'ai passé le film à être surpris que ses collègues la tutoient tant elle est pète-sec et distante. Elle joue à coté de la plaque, son alcoolisme sonne faux, tout comme les raisons qui l'ont entrainé au fond. Assez difficile de dire ce qui me reste de ce "petit lieutenant". Assez convaincu par le quotidien de l'équipe, par leurs rapports entre eux, par l'angélisme de Lespert, moins par l'histoire de Nathalie Baye. Ceci dit, le regard sur la police (ni saints, ni salauds) a le mérite d'être original et le parti pris réaliste fonctionne pas trop mal.

Im french and i needed the subtitles!

Fairly realistic about policemen's life in Paris. Because it happened in France, in addition to the routine investigation scenes, it also covers cops' private life & problems, racial issue, etc. Nothing really new but decently done in general.

NOTE: I now have five special lists. Foreign Oscar Nominated. the five films nominated each year for Oscar foreign film 2009-1975. I love art film and foreign films. I saw Fellini Satyricon when I was 18. and I saw I am Curious Yellow and IF when I was 16. see and use these lists to select some good foreign films like I am doing,.!! enjoy: Le petit lieutenant (English: The Young Lieutenant) is a 2005 drama by French director Xavier Beauvois. Nice Police thriller might be dull for the dull heads and thriller killer crowd.. I enjoyed it especially for its gritty reality and the protagonist is fighting (and winning) her battle from alcoholism. She even goes some AA meetings int his movie. She won a Cesar Award for: Best Actress – Leading Role (Nathalie Baye). There is the think of a possible romantic involvement with a younger cop fresh out of the academy--Antoine Derouere. He is married. So this film is really a day to day look at their lives and police procedure as the murder investigation proceeds. I enjoyed the film strong 3 or 4 stars.

Great character study.

Slow moving crime drama about a rookie lieutenant in the Paris police force. It was okay.

Un film qui ne démarre jamais vraiment,on s'ennuie et les acteurs ne sont pas très convaincants ...

overall good lo unico es que no se entiende por lo del frances

Usually not interested in police shows or movies, but liked the idea of seeing a portrayal of police work in Paris. Took awhile for the plot to get moving and for the characters to reveal themselves - overall a decent movie.

Le Petit Lieutenant may show how things are really done in police stations around the world, but without the action and suspense of typical policing movies. The movie takes a long time to get into the main action of the story, and it's hard to get excited about what's happening. It does, however, show viewers that being a police officer is not always about high-speed chases and tense hostage situations. Overall, the movie lacks any type of excitement, and I found myself fighting to stay awake. It may be realistic, but realism won't get you to the top of the box office.

I liked this movie. The AA scenes were spot on and I thought Baye did an excellent job in her role as the recovering alcoholic police commander. I thought Derouere was a kind of a dork, but understood his desire to be on the Paris instead of LaHavre. I liked that it was more about the people on the detective squad than about solving the crime.

I love the pace, the realism and the grit in this dark and gritty film. Absent is the short cut clipping so common in Hollywood action movies. This movie gives you time to get into the characters' minds and lives. The realism is painful but satisfying in a way you rarely see in today's Hollywood blockbusters.

Le pas si petit polar français.

Sorry. No full review this time. This is a well done, police noir film. Pacing was good but some shots were a little long. Good character development. Held my interest from beginning to end and it captures the tedium and frequent disappointment of criminal investigation and police work.

While the characters are genuine and complex, the plot yields no such complexity, existing disappointingly as a terribly linear cinematic exercise with no great surprises or drama.