User reviews

First of all, during the last years France is proving to be one of the most interesting 'creators' of front-line quality crime and thriller films. We had successful movies such as 'De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté', '36 Quai des Orfèvres' or most recently 'L'ennemi public nº1' and how can we forget 'Ne le dis à personne'.

The question is, what happened to this one?

It has to be one of the most interesting french movies that I have ever seen and how come I've never heard of it in foreign lands (except France of course)? Not only you have here a genius and meticulous plot, with a final twist that simply blows one away, but also solid performances (Jean Dujardin is excellent as the tough Richard Malinowski) and good directing (Franck Mancuso is a pleasant surprise). It's a short, sharp and accurate crime flick with entertainment guaranteed. It hasn't car chases, gun shooting or explosions, but just mind tricks that fit in perfectly.

This is one of those cases that if it had a different production, it would have make it BIG TIME. And that's a real shame because this little piece of french tape is a lesson of good film-making and the fact that it didn't get much of recognition and visibility left it forgotten.

However, you, the reader, don't forget it and if you have the chance, just watch it because it is 75 minutes of sharp crime flick - 8/10.

Through persistent correspondence over the course of three years and new elements in his possession, police captain Malinowski starts to doubt the man convicted for his 10 year old daughter's rape and murder is actually guilty and starts a counter-investigation on his own.

Written and directed by ex-cop Franck Mancuso (also co-writer of the great 36 Quai Des Orfèvres), Contre-Enquête is a very good, well-made film, certainly the best French crime film of 2007 out of those I've seen so far (which include Le Deuxième Soufflé, Chrysalis and ex-top spot holder Pars Vite Et Reviens Tard). So-hot-right-now Jean Dujardin is very good in his first truly serious role I've seen, and the rest of the cast do a good job as well, especially Laurent Lucas as Daniel Eckmann, the convict. The script, based on a short story by Lawrence Block (screenwriter of Wong Kar-Wai's English-language effort My Blueberry Nights) is greatly written and keeps the suspense going and the viewer wondering until the very end. Good crime thriller, check it out if you have the chance.

Having watched for years Jean Dujardin in his hilarious sitcom "Un Gars Une Fille" ,I was wondering how he would manage in a dramatic story.He is quite convincing ,as is Laurent Lucas in a shady role.The story is ,except for the debatable ending,close to the famous Boileau-Narcejac frame-ups with a dash of Patricia Highsmith thrown in for good measure ,but the characters lack in-depth psychology.The movie is too short and the part of Daniel is underwritten.The scene when Dujardin arrives on the scene of the crime shows the influence of Clint Eastwood's "Mystic river" .All in all,this is a rather good thriller,which could have been really great.The short nightmare scene ("I can't ,dad,I'm dead") is effective.

Contre-Enquete is the prime example of a movie that is not really well directed, but that is carried on by his actors. If you like your direction tight and extensive, this is not a movie for you.

You seldom feel rushed into the action, the scenes are too short and everything happens in the same time, which makes it difficult to get attached to the characters. In its first twenty minutes, the movie out pours a lot of emotional scenes that comes out as being cheesy because...well the movie is just starting! Nobody really cares about the characters yet.

But there is all the bad I have to say. The odyssey of a broken down father to find the true murderer of his daughter is a gripping tale that has Jean Dujardin and Laurent Lucas as their shining stars. Their play is subtle, tight and leaves the viewer in a total state of confusion towards the potential ending of the movie.

It could have been a landslide due to its predictability and its sloppiness, but Dujardin and Lucas made this an overall rather enjoying experience.

Released in 2007, the French film is one of the best dramas and investigative thrillers of all time.

Jean Dujardin's character Richard will be seen on the screen in this film which tells the story with emphasis on the emotions of the characters as well as the quests. Laurent Lucas, who came as Daniel to remind us of many important villains, also performed well.

Emily, the ten-year-old daughter of Police Inspector Richard Malinowski, is brutally murdered. Since the victim was the daughter of a police officer, his colleagues attached great importance to finding the culprit immediately.

Defendant Daniel Ekman is in prison. But then he keeps writing letters to Richard saying that he was not the one who did that cruel thing.

The film tells the story of Richard's parallel investigation to find out if Daniel is the real culprit and to find out who caused his Emily's death.

Many of the films that have stories about the murders of loved ones and their endings end in the same direction as revenge. The success of such films often depends on how much revenge the audience can contain.

I found this film to be a good fit. An unexpected climax enjoyed well.

First "writers_reign" the script is not an adaptation of a novel written by Robert Bloch but by Lawrence Block, also author of "Eight million ways to die" adapted by Hal Ashby. Having said this the movie itself offers a good and unusual performance by Jean Dujardin and a new great one by Laurent Lucas. Franck Mancuso being an ex cop is certainly in a better place that anyone to know about police procedures and does a good job for his first directorial task. It's also great to see a cameo by the late Jean-Pierre Cassel. So, in the end it's a tight (the movie is approx 75mn long) crime drama that don't relies on car chases or gunfights. French thrillers still can be made these days.

This film is a useful corrective for those who think that French cinema is inescapably urbane, intelligent and stylish. Counter-investigation is a shallow, nasty, derivative, clunking little film. Though its authenticity is widely trailed, the film's basic premise - that a police officer whose daughter has been raped and killed would subsequently be allowed to investigate the same crime as a miscarriage of justice - defies disbelief. Character development is jettisoned in favour of a nuts and bolts plot which delivers few pleasures. Men suffer, you know, when their children die; but they can get through it by squaring their jaws and drinking liquor. Paedophiles, well, they're clever, cold, and calculating. And evil, pretty much. The police, they'd do a fine job, if it weren't for bureaucrats. And liberals, especially. The film's ultimate message - that the only justice is old testament justice in a neatly defined world of good and evil - is as absurd as it is juvenile. One to miss.

... by a few things. Like how good the movie was, how bad it is rated here and how convincing the main actor was in this (given the movie I saw him before was a spoof, OSS 117). Although I heard he's a big star over in France.

No wonder I say. His performance holds this movie together, which may be a little predictable and might run a bit too long, but it still is a good movie. With a very difficult topic that is. And a relationship between two characters, that is disturbing to say the least. And that's not only counting for the wife of the main character (it's his movie though, which is apparent too), but also with the other main person of the movie. It moves slowly, but if you adapt to that, than you will like it (and the twists will be a nice addition, too).

There was a potentially good film here that is reminiscent of others you've seen much better done and with a story that at least didn't contain holes the size of craters. Without spoilers, the first cheat is that virtually no information is given to make one believe that the police were able to find the right man for a murder of a police officer's daughter. Second, there is almost no acting needed by the suspect. It's another cheat designed to fool the viewer. And the third and last is that the premise, that a police detective would begin a counter investigation in this fashion would need some seriously solid evidence. And it just wasn't there.

In spite of excellent performances by much of the cast, this film became a parody of itself as it moved along and the conclusion was completely obvious. Had its moments but came away very empty.

I watched this with a steadily-mounting sense of horror that the real culprit was going to get away with it. There were enough clues to make clear his guilt even to a person such as me who is hopeless at solving whodunnits.

The ever reliable Jean Dujardin played a good role as the dad whose child was murdered and Laurent Lucas was fine as the convict but unfortunately his part was not as developed.

As events moved on and the counter investigation wound to a close resulting in another court case there was a huge sting in the tail. I didn't see it coming at all. It's a good job that the police commandant was so understanding.

Aside from the simple fact of watching Jean Dujardin in a straight drama, and not a comedy of one variety or another, there are a few bits and pieces that catch one's attention in no time at all. One is the curtness of the pacing in terms of plot development, contrasted with the weirdly lax pacing we see in small moments such as the camera watching characters walking (just walking) for longer than is necessary. There's also the somewhat clunky or even blockheaded dialogue and scene writing that could be copied and pasted to or from countless other films or TV shows about hard-headed cops. I would also argue that the direction, acting, sound design, and a fair bit of the writing at large are characterized by a distinct bluntness, and perhaps heavy-handedness. None of this is to say that 'Contre-enquête' (also known as 'Counter investigation') can't be enjoyable and worthwhile on its own merits, yet in the very least we'll need to look for something to help it stand apart from its brethren, and these factors may also serve to place upper limits on one's engagement.

I claim no familiarity with Lawrence Block's novel, and I can't say I specifically know writer-director Franck Mancuso. Maybe I'm too jaded or cynical to fully appreciate this, or maybe I'm just not on the same wavelength. One way or another, it strikes me that the narrative feels rather loosely threaded together; there are particular elements of the story as it presents, but the connections between them are weak, less than believable, and/or clearly the invention of fiction rather than a discrete reach for verisimilitude. I refer above all to the dual focus on not just father and policeman Richard but also convicted suspect Daniel, but even other facets like Richard's ongoing investigation seem troubled to me, and less than entirely cohesive. Yes, all these aspects do in fact tie together, and I'm certainly not saying that the movie as we see it is "bad," but it comes across as fitting together Just So, a matter of Movie Magic, and is less than wholly convincing. At the same time, it also comes off in some measure as a crime drama by numbers: all the parts are here on paper, but it lacks the passion, punch, or genuine excitement to make any of it count.

To be clear, I do actually like 'Contre-enquête.' I think it's broadly well made, with illustration of capable skill in all regards. I don't agree with all the choices that were made, but I recognize able craftsmanship in the cinematography, editing, acting, and production design, not to mention hair and makeup; Mancuso's direction is fine from a technical standpoint, and again, in general terms I think all the ingredients are present in the screenplay for a solid crime drama. The overall plot is excellent. Still, when one gets down to it the minutiae of the picture, and the details of the execution, feel rough, brusque, inchoate, ill-fitting, and/or the product of Cookie Cutter formulations. At best the feature is unremarkable; at its most deficient, we kind of have to just accept it at face value and leave it at that. I appreciate the work that everyone put into it, and I'd like to see more of what all involved are capable of. I also think this title would have quite benefited from even the slightest injection of vitality into the drama, for the evenhanded tone does it no favors; a more delicate hand in the writing, in the direction, and in other capacities would have helped the drama to land more smoothly, and be more impactful. Such as it is I think it's a decent enough way to spend eighty-five minutes if one comes across it, but this is nothing one needs to go out of their way to see. 'Contre-enquête' is okay, and sometimes that's all a movie needs to be, but that does mean it's hard to be especially enthusiastic about it.

The Father, the cop who left his underage daughter at home alone, she was later murdered due to his careless absence. The second one who's guilty was the screenplay writers, including the original story writer, Lawrence Block, who wrote a completely unacceptable short story, making a cop did the unforgivable crime that had his daughter murdered, not in France, but in the No. 1 murder country of the USA. But justifiably speaking, the cop was the real murderer who should be charged not just for his negligence but actually committed a crime. The guy who did the killing was just an accidental opportunist psycho with a twisted mind.

Jean Dujardin plays "Richard Malinowski", a model cop and family man in this film loaded with famous actors like J. P. Cassel, Aurélien Recoing and J. F. Garreaud. Beautiful Caroline Santini plays the unknowing victim of a psychopath so well you can't forget her case easily. Visually beautiful, great music, a rather classic/ conventional plot in the beginning, but the movie doesn't deliver if you know how to wait.

Claire M., the long-suffering wife of our main character, could've been better developed, following instead the well trodden lines of the "wife that doesn't understand the hero, leaves him at the worst moment, is cold and always complaining". I'd expect a better leading female character, at least in a film made in 2007.

What I most liked is the cop culture of fellowship, even when they know what their "brothers in arms" are up to. They protect each other. For good or for bad :).

Enjoy!

PS: To the fellow IMDb reviewer "kosmasp": Yes, Dujardin is very well known in France, he's always at Cannes, having just won the best actor prize there with the beautiful film "L'Artiste" with Bérénice Bejo, for instance.

I love 10 movies. This be one of them. It's well made, directed, decent story and has all the range of emotions one would expect when being entertained. It wont take long for the viewer to be captured and then immersed into the storyline all the while not knowing what to expect. It has a sense of something is coming but what to it and finally, that "what" appears giving one of the best closures to the human psyche one could have. I am in support of how well the story was acted out to the point where you accept and even support it come what may. I also like the hearing the French language with the subtitles too. Somehow the fact that it is in a different tongue causes me to pay more attention upping the emotional quota considerably. Definite must watch for a good evenings entertainment. Snacking a must with a tasty drink too. No interruptions or you lose the bonding aspect. Stay still and it pays-off nicely...enjoy