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Le petit lieutenant
Le petit lieutenant Image
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Metascore
71 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.9 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: A gripping police noir, Le Petit Lieutenant tells the story of Antoine, an ambitious young cop from the provinces who joins a plainclothes crime unit in Paris. Antoine spends his days eagerly awaiting his first assignment, drinking with his fellow detectives, and developing and unlikely relationship with his superior, a veteran policewoman with a troubled past. But when the body of a drifter is found murdered along the Seine, a seemingly routine investigation suddenly turns violent and forever changes all their lives. (Cinema Guild)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 19
  3. Negative: 1 out of 19
  1. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    100
    More than on "Prime Suspect," more than any film in recent memory, Le Petit Lieutenant conveys the relentless toll of big-city police work.
  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    40
    Beauvois, who co-wrote, seems hellbent on making the most realistic cop film of all time, shruggingly consumed with downtime, small talk, minor incident, and dead ends, and he's succeeded--the narrative wouldn't have cut it in a Kojak story meeting.
  3. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    38
    Keeps such a lazy pace, with so many scenes that fail to move the story forward, that it should be cited for failing to meet the minimum speed for a crime drama.

See all 19 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. GeorgeL.
    10
    A spare, beautifuly crafted film that takes the police genre to a deeper level while delivering on the action and suspense.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. MichaelW.
    10
    This is the best police film I've seen -- and I'm no youth. Nathalie Baye is brilliant. I find criticisms of superbly rendered films for their "slow pacing" to be juvenile...but to each his/her own.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. Filmfan
    5
    This is not a bad film, but it is just totally unexceptional in every way. TV drama caliber.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 7 User Reviews

Trailers

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