[Spoiler-free review] Major Chevalier, an old-school cop known for his brutal style, is brought out of retirement because of a murder bearing the signature of a serial killer he put behind bars.
He's placed under the orders of Captain Kabongo, a clever and progressive detective who epitomizes everything he hates about French contemporary society.
The bottom line: Le dernier Flic.
From Stéphane Drouet and Lionel Olenga, the makers of Chérif (2013-2019), Double Je (2019) and Le Code (2021-2023), comes La Manière forte. This brilliant 90-minute crime drama pilot was written by Lionel Olenga and helmed by actor, scriptwriter and director Vincent Primault (Section de recherches, Chérif, In America). La Manière forte stars the masterful Grégoire Bonnet (Scènes de ménages, Le Code) as Major Thierry Chevalier and the excellent Clarisse Lhoni-Botte (Codename: Annika) as Captain Wendy Kabongo.
A young woman is found dead by a group of paintballers. She was stabbed and the killer engraved a 7 in Roman numerals on one of her thighs. Captain Kabongo, of the Angoulème police, is called on the crime scene. Her hierarchy is troubled by the similarity of the MO with a case of serial murders for which controversial supercop Major Chevalier sent Gabriel Laporte to jail after extorting his confession. Laporte awaits for his trial while Chevalier is on early retirement. Kabongo meets the latter, who's quickly imposed on the investigation by the préfet.
Neither are thrilled by this collaboration. Wendy Kabongo is feminist, ecologist and vegan. Thierry Chevalier is misogynistic, conservative, racist and homophobic. His ex-colleagues say the word "dinosaur" was invented for this biker always in a leather jacket. Chevalier's homophobia even cost him his relationship with his gay son, who happens to be the deputy public prosecutor. The wealthy Caroline Laporte, Gabriel's mother, wants her son out of prison. She also wants to make Chevalier pay for his imprisonment. Another victim is found in a vineyard.
Amongst the gazillion of crime and mystery dramas on French TV, La Manière forte is very refreshing. Major Thierry Chevalier is an antihero character in the mold of Harry Callahan (Dirty Harry), Andy Sipowicz (NYPD. Blue), Gene Hunt (Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes) or Mick Brisgau (Der letzte Bulle). His only (redeeming?) qualities are a huge sense of justice and a formidable instinct. Hopefully we'll see more of the duo Chevalier-Kabongo after this celebration of the crime/cop genre including great dialogues and a well dosed touch of cynical humour.
With Isabel Otero (Caroline), Cyril Descours (Deputy public prosecutor Albertini) Théo Frilet (Gabriel), Arthur Beaudoire (Jérémy), Jeanne Bournaud (Charline Huygues), etc. A co-production Making Prod (a Mediawan company), L.O. Productions and France Télévisions with the support of Magelis and Département de la Charente and the participation of RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. Produced by Stéphane Drouet and Lionel Olenga. Sophie Barrat exec produces. Claude Azoulay is the production manager.
Music by Michael Tordjman and Maxime Desprez. Cinematography by Samuel Dravet. Editing by Emmanuel Douce. Filmed in Angoulème and Reims during summer 2024. Distributed by Mediawan Rights (The Hard Way is the international title). La Manière forte will be aired today by France 2 and it's available on france.tv.
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