‘Maldoror’: Venice Review

Dir/scr: Fabrice du Welz. Belgium/France. 2024. 153 mins

Maldoror vigorously evokes the epic tales of crime and punishment that became a Sidney Lumet hallmark in 1970s American cinema. Fabrice du Welz transforms true events from 1990s Belgium into a meaty, multi-layered puzzle in which a maverick policeman’s righteous pursuit of justice places him at odds with everyone he holds dear. The tightening tension, crossing-a-line moral dilemmas and personal consequences all contribute to a propulsive, compelling thriller that should attract adult audiences who embraced recent titles like The Night Of The 12th (2022) and The Beasts (2022). 

Bajon carries the film

The story of an idealistic rookie and his obsessive quest is well-visited material, but Du Welz and screenwriter Domenica La Porta lend it distinctive flavours with the Belgian setting and an examination of the way evil’s grip can go unchallenged. Du Welz provides initial context with the information that the Belgium of 1995 had a police system split into three services – Gendarmerie, Police Communale and Police Judiciare. The tensions and rivalries between the separate organisations led to a dysfunctional and corrupt system. Throughout the film, young gendarmerie Paul Chartier (Anthony Bajon) is constantly fighting that system. He is told to follow orders and accept the status quo. Defying any restrictions tips him towards an increasingly righteous anger.

The case that starts to consume Chartier is the disappearance of two young girls. Three months later, their fate remains a mystery. The police investigation has been characterised by inaction and incompetence. Chartier eagerly volunteers for an unauthorised, clandestine surveillance operation called ’Maldoror’, under the control of battle-scarred veteran Hinkel (Du Welz regular Laurent Lucas).

Chartier’s commitment to the case is played out against his personal relationships and little time bombs of revelations about his past. His career criminal father and alcoholic mother Rita (Beatrice Dalle) help explain his decision to join the police and break the cycle of his family history. His wedding to Gina (Alba Gaia Bellugi) pulls him into the embrace of her loving, boisterous Italian family; a stark contrast to his own. There is something of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) or Michael Cimino’s The Deerhunter (1978) in Du Welz’s focus on the joy and exuberance of the couple’s wedding, underlining just what Paul will put at stake by a single-minded work ethic that starts to alienate everyone.

The initial focus of the surveillance operation is convicted criminal Marcel Dedieu (a grimy, repellent Sergi Lopez) but, as the plot unfolds, Chartier and his colleagues uncover a many-tentacled tale of paedophilia, pornography, kidnapping and trafficking that implicates high-ranking members of the local establishment. Du Welz maintains a clear grip on the burgeoning narrative and makes us aware early on that Chartier’s gut instincts are well-founded. That enhances our identification with his frustration that nobody will take him seriously.

Du Welz and cinematographer Manuel Dacosse lend the story a hell-on-earth quality by the use of saturated colours and the flinty settings of muddy, rain-sodden industrial landscapes, grey skies and decay. The story also seems to be underpinned by codes of conduct. There are firm expectations of an obedient police recruit, a loyal husband or a new father. Chartier’s choice not to conform makes him an increasingly isolated figure.

Perhaps inevitably, Maldoror is a very masculine story, dripping testosterone, entitlement and the evil that men do. The female characters are mostly secondary but Bellugi brings some vitality to Gina, Dalle makes the most of her few poignant scenes as Chartier’s fragile, well-meaning mother and Lubna Azabal nails her role as powerful brothel owner Santos.

Anthony Bajon (2023’s Junkyard Dog) has constantly proved himself one of the best actors of his generation, and here he invests Chartier with a reckless, animalistic energy that reminds you of James Cagney in his prime. Bajon carries the film, retaining sympathy even as the character goes to extraordinary lengths to put the world to rights.