Screened as part of NZIFF 2005

36, quai des Orfèvres 2004

Directed by Olivier Marchal

Gérard Depardieu and Daniel Auteuil go head to head in this sleek cop vs cop drama, a hit in France late last year. "This stylish, relentlessly moody cop saga benefits from crackerjack scripting, intriguing motivations and excellent performances." — Variety

France In French with English subtitles
110 minutes 35mm / CinemaScope

Director

Screenplay

Olivier Marchal
,
Julien Rappeneau
,
Frank Mancuso
,
Dominique Loiseau

Photography

Denis Rouden

Editor

Hachdé

Music

Erwann Kermorvant
,
Axelle Renoir

With

Daniel Auteuil
,
Gérard Depardieu
,
André Dussollier
,
Roschdy Zem
,
Valeria Golino

Elsewhere

Two great actors go head to head in this sleek cop vs cop drama, a hit in France late last year. Gérard Depardieu and Daniel Auteuil play long-serving detectives, old allies in bitter and devious competition for the same career-capping promotion. It's Auteuil's steely professionalism versus Depardieu's sad, lumbering obstinacy. The address in the title is France’s equivalent to Scotland Yard. “This stylish, relentlessly moody cop saga benefits from crackerjack scripting, intriguing motivations and excellent performances… Drawing heavily on actual events of the mid-80s, former cop Olivier Marchal has fashioned a picture that, with its bloody shootouts and heartbreaking betrayals, depicts police work as a risky profession in which loyalty and experience can sometimes, though not always, trump bad luck. Every action sequence is more than matched by the bloodless, chess-like maneuvering of foes and allies… Depardieu's haunting performance – arguably one of his best ever – is a mantle of sorrow kept at bay by the perceived compensations of power.” — Lisa Nesselson, Variety