The Connection is an old-school Gallic policier that taps the true-life story of a major 1970s heroin smuggling ring, encompassing both the criminals that ran it and the lawmen who fought to bring them down. There will be cops cutting into bags and tasting suspicious white powder (do you have to try it? Really?), pistols, car chases and, judging by this new clip, some moody face-offs between the white and black hats at the nucleus of the story.
While we’re figuring out the French for “we’re not so very different, you and I”, consider this: director Cédric Jimenez is clearly been confident enough to reference some classics of the genre in his stylish-looking crime drama. There are shades of Melville and Frankenheimer in the story – in fact, Frankenheimer’s **French Connection II **charts the same episode from a Popeye-view of Marseille's docks – and a conscious homage to Heat’s grandstand face-off as Gilles Lellouche’s narc baron and Jean Dujardin’s Marseilles magistrate have it out on a cliff top.
Intriguingly, Jimenez has recently taken the reins of another period piece. Wartime resistance drama HHHH unites him with Rosamund Pike, Jack O’Connell and Mia Wasikowska. That’s another to keep an eye on.
The Connection - AKA The Very French Connection - will storm your local cineplex on May 29. Click here for a look at the trailer.