Mesrine (2008 film)
| Mesrine | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Jean-François Richet |
| Produced by | Thomas Langmann André Rouleau Maxime Rémillard Executive Producer: Daniel Delume |
| Written by |
Abdel Raouf Dafri Jean-François Richet |
| Starring | Vincent Cassel |
| Music by |
Part One: Eloi Painchaud Part Two: Marco Beltrami Marcus Trumpp |
| Cinematography | Robert Gantz |
| Edited by |
Part One: Eloi Painchaud Part Two: Bill Pankow Hervé Schneid |
| Distributed by | Pathé |
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Release date
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Running time
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246 minutes Part One: 113 minutes Part Two: 133 minutes |
| Country | France Canada |
| Language |
French Spanish English |
| Budget | €40,000,000 |
| Box office | €11,760,000 |
Mesrine is a two-part (Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy Number One) 2008 French film directed by Jean-François Richet and written by Abdel Raouf Dafri and Richet. The first part's script was based on the autobiographical book L'instinct de mort by French gangster Jacques Mesrine, while the second part detailed Mesrine's criminal career after his escape from prison, and his subsequent brutal end. The film has been referred to as the French version of the American film Scarface which starred Al Pacino. The Blood wrote a song about Mesrine which preceded both the 1984, and 2008 movies. The song featured on the 1983 album False Gestures For A Devious Public.
The film is divided into two parts, with various titles:
Part 1 depicts Mesrine's life from 1959 to 1972, beginning with his time as a member of the French Army during the Algerian War, where he was forced to shoot and kill prisoners and bomb-makers. On his return to France, he moves into his parents' home, where he reunites with his mother and his father. After an argument about getting an honest job, he meets with his old childhood friend, Paul, who is wealthy now and drives a sports car. They soon get into robbery business with Paul's boss, Guido, and from him, he obtains a Citroën DS as a loan. Later, Guido and Mesrine kill Ahmed, an Arab pimp who beat up Sarah (one of his girls and Mesrine's girlfriend), and bury him in the countryside and drive off.
Using Guido's status as a local crime boss as protection from their enemies, after committing some robberies, Paul and Mesrine briefly leave France for the Canary Islands, where Mesrine meets and falls in love with Sofia, who moves to France with him, and they marry. However, although they have a daughter, and later two sons, Mesrine continues to be in the robbery business, causing him to get arrested and sent to prison in late 1960. He is released in 1962, and although tries to keep a steady job and be honest, he is fired over financial crisis, and dreams of easy money get him back into 'the business'. One night, Guido and Paul arrive and Mesrine prepares to leave with them, but Sofia yells at him and tells him that she will call the police, on which Mesrine snaps, slaps her, drags her across the stairs, and shoves a gun into her mouth and threatens her in front of Guido and Paul before departing. Later they divorce, leaving him custody of the children.
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