This is another side of the French so called "Belle Epoque" with a painstaking reconstruction of the era.
The hero's motives ,as an informer in the pay of the police ,are not clear :don't we learn his relative was part of La Commune (insurrection of Paris against the French government from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It occurred in the wake of Napoleon the Third's defeat) ; many of the older anarchists took part in the rebellion .
It's hard to be at one with an informer ,and his attitude till the very end remains ambiguous : the obligatory love affair with some kind of Louise Michel is too predictable and a cliché too often used.
The working class condition is told in voice over by the heroine , at the beginning of the movie , but one sees little of the exploitation of the laboring classes in the plot; the anarchists are shown as gentlemen cambrioleurs , (Arsene Lupin lived in this era) , who steal from the rich (but do they give to the poor and the needy ,or do they use them for weapons for their attacks ?)
On the other hand , a most interesting side shows some anarchists being suspicious : is this new recruit really sincere? Some have their doubts ,but his squeeze , who knows him better than everyone,has none,which is a bit implausible .Folie à deux ,maybe...
As for the soundtrack ,it's highly debatable :only the anarchist song, performed a capella by a camarade, has something to do with French culture ; on the other hand,the obscure English song over the cast and credits ,the Mighty Diamonds" reggae "declaration of rights" and Ray Davis ' "I go to sleep" are irrelevant in a FRENCH movie about a French period ;why not "le temps des cerises" ,huh?
Strange coincidence , Tahar Rahim was chosen for the part of Judas in "Mary Magdelene " (2018)
