Dir: Fabrice du Welz | Cast: Anthony Bajon, Alba Gaia Bellugi, Alexis Manenti, Sergi Lopez, Laurent Lucas, David Murgia, Beatrice Dalle, Lubna Azabal, Melanie Doutey | France/Belgium 155′
In his second film of the season thriller supremo Fabrice du Welz (Adoration, Alleluia, Calvaire) gets together with his regulars: Laurent Lucas and Beatrice Dalle in a film that explores an episode of institutional dysfunction and police corruption so parlous some claimed they were ‘ashamed to be Belgian’ after this grim episode of the country’s crime history.
Maldoror is a gritty thriller and once again du Welz doesn’t hold back on the realism or his ‘stock in trade’ of crafting tricky characters and psychopaths of the highest – or lowest – order making this difficult to watch in its gruesome depiction of true events involving pedophilia and murder when two little girls go missing. The story is structured around the personal and private life of an impulsive young police recruit, Paul Chartier, who finds himself assigned to a secret unit investigating a circle of sex offenders entitled ‘Maldoror’.
It soon emerges the police are implicated so naturally Chartier’s efforts are thwarted by his chief (Lucas). Chartier (Bajon) has the tenacity, resilience and verve to take matters into his own hands pitting himself against the law and his Calabrian family-in-law, who are not the most conciliatory characters to deal with, at the best of times. In short, a real head-banger of a movie to add to his archive. @MeredithTaylor.
VENICE FILM FESTIVAL | OUT OF COMPETITION 2024