Oh Mercy (2019, Arnaud Desplechin) (Patreon)

44/100

Torn between dubbing this Homicide: La Vie dans la rue or RBPD Bleu. Countless others have noted that it plays exactly like a zillion TV cop dramas, which is disappointing enough from a titan like Desplechin; worse, it'd make for quite a mediocre episode of the stronger shows, relying on its cast to generate interest in a tepid central murder case and wholly forgettable B and C plots. Roschdy Zem positively radiates empathy as the precinct captain (or French equivalent), and it's a pleasure to see him play such a dominant role for once; at the same time, his character's "backstory"—a family that's moved back to Algeria, a nephew in prison who despises him for reasons unknown—feels irrelevant, as this is by no means a character study. (Same goes for the squad's newest member, whose initial difficulty fitting in never goes anywhere despite the hackneyed device of his writing expository letters to Dad, à la Hawkeye on M*A*S*H.) Indeed, Desplechin eventually shifts emphasis so firmly to the two young women and their tortured psyches that it's retroactively unclear why we've been watching a clunky quasi-procedural rather than something along the lines of Heavenly Creatures or Murderous Maids. Admittedly, some Roubaix-specific elements are likely escaping me, e.g. the English subtitles attempt to note some sort of regional-accent communication difficulty between Daoud and the dude who's pulling the insurance scam. But the city has never really come across in Desplechin's work as much more than a vague source of mortification for him, and it's not nearly distinctive enough here to upstage generic interrogation scenes featuring cops who alternately threaten and cajole their suspects. Just nothing special about this at all, really. His blandest movie by far.