Each year at MoMA, Gaumont presents a title from its archives in France. This year, Nicolas Seydoux, President, and Sidonie Dumas, General Manager, Gaumont, introduce a digital restoration of Police as a tribute to the great Maurice Pialat and Daniel Toscan du Plantier on the 10-year anniversary of both of their deaths.
Gérard Depardieu stars as Mangin, a cop on a mission to bust a drug-trafficking ring run by a band of Tunisian brothers. Pialat brings to life Paris’s criminal underworld and law-enforcement community, rendering seedy bars, roughed-up prostitutes, crooked lawyers, and macho flics with the same hyperrealistic style. When Mangin falls for one of the crooks’ girlfriend (played by a 19-year-old Sophie Marceau) the film suddenly swerves into romantic drama. A gruff police thriller meets le grand amour.
Organized by Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film.