Accomplices (2009)

The body of a young man is found floating on a river near Lyon. Herve and Karine, a team of the local police detectives, arrive at the scene. It is not clear to them as to what caused his death. They immediately begin their investigation. At the same time, another narrative, involving Vincent, the victim of the crime, is shown paralleling it to the work the police are trying to conduct.Vincent, it turns out, is a male hustler. He meets his male costumers through a porn site on the web. His encounters are not cheap, two hundred Euros a session. His clients tend to be men of a certain age, wanting to engage the good looking Vincent and make him the center of their fantasies. Vincent operates out of hotel rooms, mainly. He goes to 'cybercafes' to chat with prospective 'johns'. One day he meets Rebecca, a girl that appears to be out of his league. In a bold move, she gives him her phone. This encounter will have a profound effect on their relationship and in the crime at the heart of the story.In contrast with the bond that Vincent and Rebecca form, there is the one involving the detective team of Herve and Karine. Even though there is no hint there is anything but a good working relationship between them, both are seen sharing moments playing table tennis, or even using the communal showers of their police precinct, or just plain relaxing with a meal. Vincent and Rebecca begin a torrid love affair at his trailer park-like mobile home. Vincent has lied to her about his profession, but it does not take long for her to find out what he really does as Karine follows Vincent to one of the hotels where he has just had a sexual encounter with a man. It will not take too long for Vincent to convince Karine to participate with him in other sexual acts that will end in tragedy.Director Frederic Mermoud cleverly interlaces the actual investigation of the murder being investigated with the actual depiction of what really happened and how it led to the horrible crime in the story. In fact, Mr. Mermoud, who co-wrote the screenplay with Pascal Arnold, has a surprise for the audience that might not be too realistic in the viewer's eyes in the way he handles Rebecca's involvement in Vincent's death. What the director achieved was first rate all around acting in a film that involves the viewer from the start. Gilbert Malki appears as Herve, the detective in the story. He was equally matched by Emmanuelle Devos who gives an understated performance as Karine. Cyris Descours is also terrific as Vincent, and Nina Meurisse makes the best out of her Rebecca the young woman that gets involved with a man out of her league to terrible consequences. Beautifully photographed by Thomas Hardmeier, and with a music score by Gregorie Hetzel, the film showcases a brand new talent, Frederic Mermoud, whose next film will be eagerly awaited.

We begin with sexy Cyril Descours (as Vincent Bouvier) being fished out of a French river. An apparent murder victim, Mr. Descours was strangled and beaten. The nineteen-year-old is discovered to have been a prostitute, by lonely investigating officers Gilbert Melki (as Hervé Cagan) and Emmanuelle Devos (as Karine Mangin). As the middle-aged couple try to solve his murder, we see the drama unfold in flashbacks.. .We meet Descours in a cybercafé, likely arranging to meet a new trick on his Internet sex site. When a recent picture is requested, Descours asks a nearby moon-faced high school student Nina Meurisse (as Rebecca Legendre) to snap the shot. Smitten with Descours, Ms. Meurisse leaves her number with the handsome young hustler, and receives his call. Soon, they are a genuine couple. At first, Descours tells his young girlfriend he is a real estate businessman... well, at least he didn't claim to be the Duke of Cumberland...Descours is actually a prostitute catering to older men. Moreover, his only other long-term sexual relationship has apparently been with handsome young pimp Jeremy Kapone (as Thomas Moraizini). When Meurisse learns the truth, relationships change… Also known as "Accomplices" on the "Sundance" circuit, this is quite an engrossing, modern drama. This is mainly due to the fine direction given by Frédéric Mermoud, who cross-cuts well with editor Sarah Anderson and the crew. The performances elicited are very impressive. On the downside, there isn't much new ground being broken. "Complices" succeeds in the way it treads familiar territory with an illusion of originality.Helping is the less flashy subplot involving Mr. Melki and Ms. Devos; they balance the younger couple by never actually getting off in the same way, and are thus made interesting on their own. There is also a good amount of nudity; some of the simulated sex is odd, but you can figure out what is supposed to be happening. It is interesting, and arguably regrettable, that the two "killers" who emerge during the story are treated very differently. Watch it. Think about it.******* Complices (8/9/09) Frederic Mermoud ~ Cyril Descours, Nina Meurisse, Gilbert Melki, Emmanuelle Devos

"Complices" is a rather depressing work ,depicting a world which is exploiting the young ones ,treating them as sexual objects :it's revealing that two "clients" are a (female) lawyer and an ophthalmologist.The two miserable heroes come from difficult backgrounds:we never see Vincent's parents and the boy lives in a trailer with his pimp ,a jealous gay who cannot stand his girlfriend Rebecca.As for the girl ,she is left to her own devices ,her mother being almost always absent and she's hardly eighteen (we learn she is to take her HS diploma this year).The boy prostitutes himself and he leads Rebecca into bad ways ( the bisexual clientèle).Not exactly the romantic story of your dreams.Although the director does not spare the sordid details ,partly thanks to his actors (particularly Descours ,who remains natural and whose youthful look reveals a shattered innocence -the actor was 26 ,whereas he is supposed to be 19 in the movie) he makes his principals endearing.The movie is a long flashback but,and it is the director's main quality,we never have the feeling of watching flashbacks .It's so rare in the movies it has to be underlined : present and past are so tightly linked that we have the strange feeling that Rebecca and her dead lover are still living their love story while the two cops are investigating.This is not the rosy world of Eric Rohmer.It's a cruel world ,the world of those "dirty" sites on the net ,of the double life of the prostitutes and their clients .The boy ,eating candies after making love with a (probably) well-respected man ,shows the child still inside of him.As for Rebecca ,who is not a very attractive girl,she's naively looking for someone to love .Par excellence doomed lovers.However, the ending is finally ,in its own particular way,some kind of happy end ,and ,it's another quality of the movie,the cops are not caricatured and show some compassion.

One more effective french crime drama. Very well characterized by Emmanuelle Devos and Gilbert Melki, it tells the story of an investigation after a coprse is found in the Seine river. The two leads, cops, slowly find some elements on the dead man's life. The editing of this movie let us discover who the dead was. Some flash backs are mixed up with the story in the present, where the two cops investigate.This is the story of relation ship between two individuals, the two cops, and also between the victim and his gril friend, how the young girl changes her mood with him, about his unavowable activies. The young man is a prostitute with wealthy business men or doctors...This is also a story which shows us how humans can be depraved.An ugly tale, but the ending saves us some hope.