Polisse film reviews

Polisse, this fascinating sprawl of a French police drama centers on a dozen men and women who work for the Child Protection Unit in Paris. To our eyes, though, they appear less like hard-nosed cops than members of a scraggly English department: They dress like bohemians, play art-house charades, and wistfully philosophize about their broken marriages. They also interview suspected pedophiles (and the children who may or may not be telling the truth about them) with a casual, inquiring sensitivity that makes them seem, at times, like well-meaning amateurs. The film can be rambling and glib, yet it’s no mere crime drama. It captures a middle-class French society that looks more humane than ours, but is just as messed up. (Also available on VOD) B