Mesrine: public enemy no. 1

Mesrine charts the rise and subsequent fall of jacques mesrine, one of France’s most notorious gangsters. I didn’t know much about jaques mesrine before the film, but found Vincent Cassel’s performance compelling and captivating. Everyhing from his physical presence to his portrayal of the egomaniacal mesrine oozes a credibility and ability to suspend disbelief sorely missing from hurt locker. The story starts with his death and works back from an audacious pair of bank robberies to kidnappings and dalliance with far leftpolitical movements of the day, but it is in his personal life that Cassel’s mesrine displays the most vulnerability. A failure as both a son and a father, mesrines romantic relationships also portray a simultaneous failure to accept the inevitable along with a need to glamourise the myth of mesrine in a highly provocative manner. The presentation is smooth and typically Gallic, with a standout unintentially funny London street scene as a street seller with a dodgy accent peddles Paris match on a random London road. Mesrine was (for me at least) the best film of the day, carried through by good directing and the best performance I’ve seen from cassel since la haine. Definitely one to watch.