Les déclassés

The charismatic Paris crook Le Normand, as he is called respectfully by his followers, is somewhere between a murder and a poet, between a gangster and a philosopher. Thirty years ago, this Nietzschean figure moved from the industrial port of Le Havre, but has never really left the town behind him. He is an expert at psychological manipulation, but knows that in the end he will be the victim of his own misbehaviour. To fight a war against rival gangs, he hires a man, Nico, who is however soon forced by one of the gangs to betray his boss. Le Normand takes his revenge by killing Sergio, a friend of Nico, and also brutally murdering his brother. Nico in turn wants revenge. He reports bravely to the headquarters of the philosopher-murderer in Le Havre for a duel. But then events take an unexpected turn. Tony Baillargeat, seen last year as an actor in Grandieux' Sombre, also plays the role of the vengeful mercenary Nico in his promising and beautifully designed directing début. A morbid elegy, this personal gangster ballad in which guilt and violence are woven together, pushing waywardly against the boundaries of the genre.