It was the favorite of the Festival de l’Alpe d’Huez 2023. 38°5 quai des orfèvres by Benjamin Lehrer, presented at the very last minute, won over festival-goers and the jury chaired by Karin Viard. And there is something to laugh about in this police comedy with its striking humor around a serial killer of the cops who track him down.
“The film works on the gap between the seriousness of the investigation and the absurdity of the situations”, explains Didier Bourdon to 20 minutes. The actor is hilarious as an overconfident commissioner who comes to support an admiring young police officer but clearly more talented than him than an interpreter Caroline Anglade. “I played this role in a very first degree, explains the actress. It wasn’t our place to be funny and that’s what makes the movie original. »
A very controlled delirium
Artus, as a tongue-in-cheek medical examiner, reflects this sometimes very dark fantasy, as when he slaughters a student to demonstrate blood spatter or when he grills sausages on a hidden charred corpse in a giant snail shell. “We all had experiences of actors and different humours, insists Didier Bourdon. For my part, I am used to working in a group and I loved finding this dynamic on this film. » We think of the great American classics of ZAZ (Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker) of Is there a pilot on the plane ? To Is there a cop to save the queen? “Reading the screenplay, we might have feared that the director was crazy, but Benjamin Lehrer is very rigorous,” recalls Caroline Anglade.
This can be seen when we look at what is happening in the background in certain scenes, such as when the heroes go to the police station: the delirium of the film remains under the absolute control of the director, who does not hesitate to push the dark humor. References to thriller classics like Thesilenceofthelambs or to French pop culture with a very funny appearance by Stéphane Bern happily make people chuckle in very different registers.
” 38°5 quai des orfèvres shows how some French comedies can be as hilarious as they are ambitious,” insists Didier Bourdon. He’s right because it’s a good place for anyone who wants to have a good laugh.