Watch P'tit Quinquin For Free

That was an excellent one.

Purely Joyful Movie!

Good concept, poorly executed.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

As usual Mr. Dumont delivers an enchanting intimate portrait of French Flanders. Just as brutal as his other films, but sprinkled with the observations of the lighter side of humanity. Intensely rich in character and human fallibility, the humour to be found in life is portrayed expertly. In fact it feels so real that it is as if the comedy emerges accidentally, and from the actors not the script.As in "l'Humanité" the colourful detective negotiates his way through the haze of evil that hangs over the Côte Opale. And, as always, that is combined with a strong Christian spiritual presence, and the perceived monotony of human life.Exceptional casting with non professional locals always gives his work a closer, more realistic hard edge but this time (probably due to its colourful humour) has made it far more palatable and less painful. Although some would believe this to be too ridiculous to be taken as a realistic portrait, Flanders and Wallonie do in fact have an abundance of individuals who are similar in their unflinching eccentricities and colour (indeed many are forces of law and order.) Absent are the brutal anti-sensual sex scenes, and instead a gentler, calmer love exists between certain characters.Comparisons with Bresson and Charlie Chaplin may be perhaps inevitable for some, but he has achieved the same as with all his masterpieces up to this point, albeit with a lighter eye on his world. I think he is one of the few consistently magical contemporary European directors.

The film is about a spoiled, racist brat surrounded by feckless, over-the-top incompetent adults. The adults are so beyond caricature in their incompetence that it utterly fails to be funny. It is ostensibly a black comedy, but the humour, for me at any rate, consistently fell flat. While it at least avoids the vulgarity of the very worst Hollywood comedies, they at least have the decency to be brief. This meanders pointlessly, with uninteresting subplots added seemingly for no reason other than padding. Also, jokes that weren't funny the first time are repeated again and again. Finally, none of the characters are particularly interesting nor sympathetic. For me, this quickly fell into "I don't care what happens to any of these people" and once that happens even murder utterly fails to be interesting.

This film is overly long and meandering, which is frustrating because too many scenes should be edited more carefully. Several scenes, like the funeral of Mme Lebleu, went on far too long. Also, there are too many unnecessary inserts into scenes. For example, in a restaurant in fourth episode, where the commandant is talking to a public official, there's a family with a disruptive son who is mentally handicapped. There is no reason for this family to be featured in this particular scene. This kind of fragmentation detracts from the already thin storyline. I don't recommend this film unless you have watched everything else and have plenty of time to waste.

I watched this series back to back as part of the London Film Festival. Whilst it had some nice touches it most definitely could have done with some serious editing. The story covers a number of gruesome and seemingly interconnected murders in a small town in Northern France. These are investigated by a pair of ineffectual policemen who adopt a number of quirky, but not necessarily humorous,mannerisms. The series also gives a great deal of attention to the lives of some of the local children. The series captures the geography very well but one feels there are too many shots that are not necessary or over long. Some of the more farcical moments are similarly overplayed and they tend to peter out. The plot is such that the murders are incidental.Life generally carries on with little or no impact or histrionics.The series struggles to know what it is and veers between light comedy,social drama and murder mystery without ever coming off the fence. The introduction of a storyline concerning immigration,racial and religious intolerance almost halfway through is also not given the attention it deserves. The death of Mohammed also illustrates the general indifference to life that one wonders if there was much point including it as it's never revisited. The depiction of France and French society is also pretty stark with casual overt racism demonstrated a number of times. The climax,if it could be called such a thing,is also unsatisfying with most plot lines left hanging. It felt at the end that this destination could have been reached far quicker and with more effect.