Freedom (Mélanie Laurent, Prime Video, 2024)

Bonus review: Wingwomen (Mélanie Laurent, Netflix, 2023)

Freedom (or in French: Libre) is a brand new romantic crime movie from writer and director Mélanie Laurent, chronicling the life and times of real life ‘gentleman criminal’ Bruno Sulak.

The movie, co-written by Laurent and Christophe Deslandes, is set in early 1980’s France, and takes place in mostly gorgeous locations around the Riviera and in Paris. 

Sulak is played by rising star Lucas Bravo, best known for his supporting role in Emily in Paris, while the role of his girlfriend Annie is a chance for the relatively unknown Léa Luce Busato to show off her acting chops. They both make the most of the opportunity.

Sulak, who was also something of an escape artist, saw himself as a modern Robin Hood, stealing from the rich but treating the employees of the supermarkets, and later on jewelry stores, they robbed as politely as he could.

Which is what they remembered about him when they were later interviewed by the police. It also spawned comparisons to Arsene Lupin, the famous fictional thief from the works of Maurice Leblanc.

Annie doesn’t really question Bruno’s motivation that ‘big companies are the real thieves’, but she is a bit more skeptical. Who knows, she might want to settle down with him and start a family. And what they do isn’t without risk, as the guns they use are still loaded, and the police are absolutely chasing them.

The police team is led by another real life character, chief-inspector George Moreas (veteran actor Yvan Attal), who is already on his way to being promoted, but wants to catch Sulak and his merry band of robbers before they become too popular.

Actress turned filmmaker Mélanie Laurent is probably still best known to international audiences for her starring roles in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Beginners (by Mike Mills), but over the course of eight feature films she’s become quite an accomplished director, specializing in (but not limited to) genre movies with a female twist. 

In the hands of a male director Freedom may have been a darker, grimier looking film. But Laurent keeps the story fairly lighthearted and the movie convincingly glossy looking, with a lot of detail when it comes to clothing and production design. So it’s a fun caper, with a fine soundtrack to boot.

Libre (Freedom) can’t escape all genre trappings, nor does it really want to. It could have gone deeper, but the existential questions about what we want out of life and how far we are willing to go to achieve them, are definitely there.

In the end, Freedom is, to all intents and purposes, an attractive looking movie about the rise and fall of a gangster, even if it begins and ends on his girlfriend, who at one point realizes that if you want to live longer you may at some point need to grow up. 

I give it 3 1/2 stars.

Note: Freedom is available in both French and English language versions.

Wingwomen (Mélanie Laurent, Netflix, 2023)

Voleuses (a.k.a. Wingwomen) is a fun, femme-oriented action comedy, starring a bunch of fine French actresses like Adèle Exarchopoulos, Mélanie Laurent, Manon Bresch ‘et’ Isabelle Adjani.

Directed by Laurent herself and based on a comic book, this is one of those movies that knows exactly what it wants to be and never really strays from its goal.

It’s a bit longish (115 min.) and French humor can be an acquired taste, but overall this female addition to the One Last Job-genre works just fine as a solid three star-entertainment. And one of the reasons it works so well is because it doesn’t have the pretensions of being anything else. 

Carole (Laurent, from Inglourious Basterds) and Alex (Exarchopoulos, La Vie d’Adèle) are not only best friends, they are also partners in crime. But they have reached the point they want to get out, which as we all know, is impossible in this line of work. After their boss, godmother Marraine (living legend Adjani), sends them a forceful message to reconsider, they agree to steal a painting called The Grande Odalisque from the Louvre in Paris. Since this is a big job they bring in rookie Sam (Bresch), who specializes in boxing and motorcycling, and Clarence (Felix Moati), an arms dealer with a price on his head. 

What happens next is to a certain point predictable, in the same way that romantic comedies can be predictable (but still fun). Also, there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing how things will eventually play out.

The stars are clearly having a blast, the stunt work really is quite good and the picture has enough production value/eye candy to keep you glued to the screen.

This heady mix of action, comedy and pure girls stuff is handled so well that I expect Voleuses to be a big hit with its (mostly) female target audience.

Note: Voleuses / Wingwomen is still available on Netflix.