Mesrine: Public Enemy #1

This tough-as-nails, crime-themed docudrama constitutes the second installment in a two-part biopic on the life of infamous Gallic thug Jacques Mesrine (1936-1979), officially regarded for many years as “Public Enemy #1” in France. Here, he is played to the hilt by Vincent Cassel, who underwent massive weight gain and weight loss to properly evoke Mesrine. Picking up where the same year’s Mesrine: L’Instinct de Mort left off, this outing covers Mesrine’s life from 1973-1979. The tale opens in March of ’73, with Mesrine in the custody of authorities; he’s accused of knowing an equally brutal and frightening mobster, Michel Ardouin (Samuel Le Bihan), but aggressively denies this; a thrilling escape and an ugly shoot-out jointly perpetrated by the men, however, reveal the extent of Mesrine’s deception. Mesrine, it seems, hasn’t merely evolved into a legend in his own time, but a legend of his own making, aggressively feeding his own self-myth by perpetrating one outrageous criminal act after another. His latest ploy involves donning a series of elaborate disguises (such as that of a doctor visiting his dying father, or a police inspector making inquiries) that enable him to pull off casino heists and other elaborate felonies. Eventually, Mesrine grows listless and bored with his own braggadocio and turns to extremist political factions for “inspiration,” such as the Red Brigades and the Baader-Meinhof Gang, before an ugly incident with Parisian authorities brings him tumbling down from his throne., In the conclusion of this two-part crime saga, gangster Jacques Mesrine returns to France after an exile in Canada and becomes a celebrity for escaping from prison and painting himself as a political radical with the help of a leftist spokesman. Meanwhile, the French police grow determined to make an example of Mesrine., In the thrilling conclusion of this two-part crime saga, gangster Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) returns to France after an exile in Canada and becomes a celebrity for escaping from prison and painting himself as a political radical with the help of a leftist spokesman (Gérard Lanvin). Meanwhile, the French police grow determined to make an example of Mesrine., The true story of one of Europe’s most infamous and charismatic criminals comes to a close in this drama based on the life and crimes of Jacques Mesrine., In the conclusion of this two-part crime saga, gangster Jacques Mesrine returns to France after an exile in Canada and becomes a celebrity for escaping from prison and painting himself as a political radical.