Fast-rising French star Lucas Bravo, best known so far for playing love interest chef Gabriel in the series Emily in Paris, plays polite armed robber Bruno Sulak in this frothy true-crime story. Set largely in a version of the 1980s where everyone avoids wearing the most heinous trends of the time (and instead rock all the chic 80s styles designers have been reviving recently such as huge feather earrings and animal print) the story apparently sticks reasonably close to the historical record as it tracks Sulak’s career.
The handsome bandit specialises at first in robbing les supermarchés in the sticks. His gang includes stalwart wingman Drago (busy character actor Steve Tientcheu) and Bruno’s girlfriend/getaway driver Annie (Léa Luce Busato, whose slim list of credits includes playing one-third of the love triangle seen in the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics). Bruno insists that the crew is always cordial to those they rob and that they never fire their guns, although the weapons are loaded. Soon he is being hailed as a real-life Arsène Lupin, a gentleman burglar for the times. Naturally, this only annoys police commissioner George Moréas (Yvan Attal) who escalates his efforts to capture Sulak and the gang.
Breezily directed by actor turned film-maker Mélanie Laurent, the film mostly dwells in the choppy editing realms of music videos, with glossy, sensuously lit cinematography underscored with classic needle drops. (And who doesn’t love to scene cut to Jocelyn Brown’s Somebody Else’s Guy?) The script doesn’t pause to offer any kind of backstory or psychology to explain why the characters do what they do, apart from a fleeting conversation that suggests vague leftist politics and Robin Hood romanticism may have something to do with it. This is a straight up style flick, easy to consume and even easier to forget, but Bravo has enough charisma to hold your interest for the duration.
• Freedom (Libre) is on Prime Video from 1 November.
