Contre-enquête
Tags: revenge

Plot synopsis:
When the young daughter of police captain Richard Malinowski is raped and murdered, his colleagues hastily find a suspect called Daniel Eckman. Despite there being no witnesses and no forensic evidence, he is sentenced to 30 years. From jail he starts writing to the policeman, expressing his deep regret for the death of the daughter and proclaiming his innocence. Doubts begin to surface in the mind of the policeman, who begins his own private enquiry. He finds that Salinas, a known serial killer of children, was in the area at the time of the killing.
As well as letters to the father, the prisoner has also been writing to Christine, a female sympathiser. He has a letter smuggled out to her, asking her to give false evidence on his behalf. A retrial is held and Eckman is freed, with compensation. Meeting Christine, he asks her to come away with him to a new life together, but she begins to have doubts about his honesty. He then rings Malinowski to ask if he can call round to thank him personally. Malinowski agrees, and gives him a whiskey full of sedative. When he comes to, he is bound in duct tape beside an open grave at the spot where the girl's body was found. After a brief explanation, Malinowski buries him alive.

Review: Very-well made and good suspense, one to watch....
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..
Wrong Bloch but right movie.
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..
Sharp crime flick.
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..
Frame-up.
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..
Flawed, but overall satisfying!.
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..
Surprised ....
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)..
Great thriller, cautionary tale and cop movie!.
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..
Investigate This!.
I love 10 movies.
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.
A nasty little film.
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..
One to miss..
Child's Play.
One thing you can be sure of with Frank Mancuso is authenticity.
An ex-cop himself, he co-wrote 36 Quai des Orfevres with another ex-cop, Olivier Marchal (who also directed) and based it on incidents in his own time on the force.
This time around he has adapted an American novel by Robert Bloch but his movie is no worse for that.
It's arguably more psychological thriller than pure policier but manages to retain its grip throughout.
In a nutshell a cop's young daughter is killed and a suspect arrested, tried and imprisoned and this, as they say, is where the story really starts; with the prisoner - Monty Clift lookalike Laurent Lucas - initiating a correspondence from his cell with the father of the murdered girl, a correspondence he chooses to keep secret from his wife.
Justice, albeit rough justice, prevails in the end but as always in life nobody really wins.
Definitely worth seeing..
Would be a better movie if it wasn't for the Dils case.
The plot is somewhat simple - a policeman whose daughter was raped and murdered helps the man who is in jail for her murder to have his conviction overturned.
(graeme-hayes, he is not "allowed to investigate",he's doing it on his own without his colleagues's approval)The movie itself was really good.
It was nice to see Dujardin finally getting a role worthy of his talents.
However, what really irked me were the similarities between this movie and the Patrick Dils case.For those who don't know, Patrick Dils was convicted of killing 2 boys when he was 16 years old, then his conviction was overturned 15 years later - and the fact that serial killer Francis Heaulmes was proved to have been in the area at the time and described the murder of the boys to the police several years before had a huge impact during his trial.
Heaulmes,however,was never charged.There is no question that the movie, especially the part about the serial killer, was inspired by the Dils case.
Same disease, same relationship with his mother...
so it makes me wonder what was REALLY the point for the film makers ?
Are they implying that Dils is in fact guilty and should still be in jail ?
I happen to believe in Dils's innocence and that really left a bad taste in my mouth after watching this movie.
Apart from that, it's possibly the best French movie of this genre that I've watched in the past few years.
Certainly the best since Six Pack..
Guilty.
Richard Malinowsky, a police officer, is a man that is always there for his friends.
Because of being so accommodating, he has to leave his young daughter waiting as he is called by one of those people in need.
The girl, Emilie, decides to go out on her bicycle.
As the father returns to go out with her, he finds she has been viciously killed in an isolated part of a park.The police investigation, which Richard is part of, finds a man, Daniel Eckman, that fits the description of the killer.
Although the evidence is circumstantial, the jury that tries him decides to send him to jail.
Eckman, like many prisoners serving time, attract a following of admirers.
Daniel begins corresponding with Christine Carlier, who will be willing to get him free.At the same time, Daniel Eckman starts writing to Malinowsky.
In his letters he tries to redeem himself to the point that the detective himself, grieving for his dead daughter appears to have doubts of having sent an innocent man to pay for a crime he did not commit.
When his physician's wife, Claire, discovers what Richard has been doing, behind her back, it proves too much for her to endure.
She walks out on him.As a new trial is ordered based on Malinowsky's and Christine's good faith, Daniel Eckman is able to walk out of prison after only serving three years of his long sentence.
What is more, he will received money for having been wrongly accused.
Daniel plans to go away with Christine, but there is something when they finally meet, that makes her a bit uncomfortable.
During his own private investigation, Richard Malinowsky gets some key information that will help him solve the puzzle and he is able to avenge Emilie's death.A fine film directed by Franck Mancuso who adapted a short story by Lawrence Block.
The result is a credible 'policier' that never cease to get the viewer's attention.
Add to that the excellent appearance by Jean Dujardin, an actor that is getting praise for his role in "The Artist", and you get a winning combination.
The story moves at a good pace as Mr. Mancuso moves from one incident to the next.
There are some heavy hitters in the large supporting cast.
Jean-Pierre Cassel, Laurent Lucas who makes an impression with his Eckman, Aurelie Recoing, Agnes Blanchot, and Caroline Santini contribute to the enjoyment of the film..
Excellent acting.
I was very impressed with the acting in 2007's Counter Investigation," a French film directed by Franck Mancuso, who also co-wrote the script.Jean Dujardin gives a moving and strong performance as Richard Malinowski, a police detective whose young daughter is raped and murdered.
A man, Daniel Eckmann (Laurent Lucas) is arrested but begins to write to Richard, claiming to be innocent.
Upon investigation, Richard discovers that a serial killer of young children was in the vicinity at the time his child was killed.The story is good but I had it figured out right away, which sort of spoiled it for me.
And my big problem was Malinowski leaving his daughter home alone.
It's perhaps because I live in the U.S. and have seen too many true crime shows, but I was surprised when he did it.Laurent Lucas is handsome and underplayed his role as the imprisoned man.
He does a wonderful job.
He and Dujardin had the largest roles, but everyone was convincing.
Agnes Blanchot, Jacques Frantz, Jean- François Garreaud, and Jean-Pierre Cassel rounded out a forceful cast.What was so right-on about the main characters is that one never knew what either one was thinking or was going to do next.Recommended.