Now that's pronounced 'May-reen' not 'Mes-rine'. This is something that Jacques Mesrine is very clear about, correcting various people throughout the course of two movies and four and a half hours of his life story. Both movies begin with a very fitting quote. 'All movies are part fiction. No movie can accurately portray the complexity of human life'. It's almost a disclaimer, a slight of hand that tells you not to believe everything that happens is true, it couldn't possibly be. And this fact alone sums up the man of Jacques Mesrine.
I'm always wary of films that start with the story's conclusion. I think sometimes it can be used effectively. Take American Beauty for example, it's just a simple line 'My name is Lester Burnham, and in one year I will be dead'. This is effective as it sets up the mystery of why will he be dead? And also what did he do in that last year that led to his death? How will he lead the last year of his life. On the flipside, we have something like Mission:Impossible 3. It starts out with Ethan Hunt tied up, being told by the villain Owen Davian, that he has to the count of 10 to tell him where the rabbit's foot is, or he will kill his wife. There's nothing wrong with the scene itself. In fact it is very tense, well written and well acted. My problem comes from the fact that movies like these depend on the suspense of what will happen to the main character? How much danger is he in? How will he ever get out of this? Bearing all this in mind, if you know the character survives to this pivotal scene then all of the suspense is drained out of the film.
With a story like Mesrine, bearing in mind that it's based on fact, and you realize the extravagance of his character, there really is only one logical way it can end. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Split into two films - Killer Instinct and Public Enemy Number One, the story of Mesrine begins when he is in the Army. It is during the conflict between France and Algeria in the 1960's, and he is a low level foot soldier. He does however show his ruthless streak when he is told by his superior to kill a woman in front of her brother, in a bid to learn the location of bombs planted by the Algerians. However, he shoots the brother instead, letting the woman live, and thus showing despite his ruthlessness, he has his own moral code.
The Algerian wars come to an end, and he goes back to Paris to live with his parents. It is here that his downward spiral begins. Catching up with his old friend Paul, he is seduced by the dark side of Paris - the prostitution, the booze, the gangsters. He forges a relationship with Guido, a gangster boss who rules the underworld of Paris. When an Arab immigrant pimp roughs up one of the girls Mesrine has been seeing, he takes it upon himself to teach the Arab some manners. And it is done in his own, ruthless way.
So what follows is the next 15/20 years of his life, as he robs banks, escapes prisons, romances women and lives well. There is no clearly defined start, middle and end, and this is simply due to the fact that the life he lived was so sporadic. One day he'd be buying Mercedes and drinking Cristal, the next he'd be suffering at the hands of the SCU. The next year he'd be escaping from prison and on the run, then he'd be going back to said prison armed to the teeth and trying to get the rest of the inmates out. He lived moment to moment, never in denial that it'll last forever, but in the belief that he'd make it count while he did. And that's what these two films are, a series of moments.
The character of Jacques Mesrine himself in an interesting one. When most people live a life as a gangster, that's what they are an that's the end of it. It's the only life they know. At different times in his life he tried to go straight. He had jobs as diverse as a model maker to a private chauffer. But the life of crime was always there for him and that is what he is good at. Later in his life, robbing banks and escaping prisons was not enough for him. He was turning to life as a revolutionary, planning to overthrow financial institutions and governments.
I'm looking forward to watching these movies again, as this is a story worth repeating. In fact, when watching the second film, it comes to light that Part 1 - Killer Instinct, was based on a book Mesrine wrote whilst in prison. I think I'll delve deeper into his story by reading his book.
I asked in an earlier post was this the French Scarface? I would say while not as good a movie as the Al Pacino classic, it is a more interesting story. Fact is often more interesting than fiction....
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