Accomplices (original title: Complices) is a 2009 Franco-Swiss crime thriller film directed by Frédéric Mermoud. The film premiered in competition at the 2009 Locarno International Film Festival. It won the Swiss Film Award for Best Screenplay in 2010.[2]

Accomplices
Film poster
Complices
Directed byFrédéric Mermoud
Written byFrédéric Mermoud
Pascal Arnold
Produced byDamien Couvreur
Tonie Marshall
StarringGilbert Melki
Emmanuelle Devos
Nina Meurisse
Cyril Descours
CinematographyThomas Hardmeier
Edited bySarah Anderson
Music byGrégoire Hetzel
Production
companies
Tabo Tabo Films
Saga Productions
France 3 Cinéma
Rhône-Alpes Cinéma
Distributed byPyramide Distribution (France)
Release dates
  • 9 August 2009 (2009-08-09) (Locarno)
  • 20 January 2010 (2010-01-20) (France)
Running time
93 minutes
CountriesFrance
Switzerland
LanguageFrench
Budget€ 3.8 million[1]
Box office$800,000[1]

Plot

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Two police detectives in Lyon, both single and childless, are investigating the murder of a young man called Vince, whose body is found strangled in the river Rhône. It emerges that Vince was a high-end male prostitute, finding clients on the internet and meeting them in hotels. His girlfriend was a student, Reb, who he recruited to join him in threesomes, so increasing his range of clients and his earnings. One encounter went wrong when the client started to get rough with Reb, upon which Vince beat him up and the two fled. Furious at the way Reb had been treated, Vince decided to blackmail the man and arranged a rendezvous on the top floor of a multi-storey car park. After handing over the money, the client then attacked Vince with a golf club, upon which Reb waded in with her motorbike helmet. Her blows killed the man, so the two hid his body in his car and fled. Vince's pimp then met him to claim his share of Vince's takings and a fight developed, in which the pimp strangled Vince and then dumped his body in the river. The detectives charge the pimp with murder but not Reb. As she is young, was in love with Vince, is pregnant with his child and her mother is standing by her, they doctor her statement to exonerate her.

Cast

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  • Gilbert Melki as Hervé Cagan
  • Emmanuelle Devos as Karine Mangin
  • Cyril Descours as Vincent Bouvier
  • Nina Meurisse as Rebecca Legendre
  • Joana Preiss as Esther, mother of Rebecca
  • Jérémy Azencott as Nicolas Bianchini
  • Jérémy Kapone as Thomas Morazzini
  • Marc Rioufol as Jean-Paul Tardieu
  • Yeelem Jappain as Belen
  • Éric Laugérias as Yvan Cagan
  • Serge Larivière as Hotel Client
  • Anne Loiret as Lawyer
  • Frédéric Épaud as Hotel Client
  • Valérie Lang as Laurence
  • Jean-Pierre Sanchez as Karim
  • Clara Ponsot as Lola
  • Olivier Guéritée as Mikaël
  • Pierre Mifsud as Medical Examiner
  • Brigitte Chambon as Vincent's mother
  • Laetitia Dosch as Vincent's sister
  • Nina Rodriguez as Nina
  • Christophe Carry as Photographer
  • Virginia Anderson as Pharmacist
  • Cédric Monnet as Hammam Customer

Accolades

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Award / Film Festival Category Recipients and nominees Result
Chicago International Film Festival New Directors Competition - Gold Plaque Frédéric Mermoud Won
Locarno International Film Festival Golden Leopard Nominated
Swiss Film Award Best Film Nominated
Best Screenplay Frédéric Mermoud and Pascal Arnold Won

References

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  1. ^ a b "Complices". JP's Box-Office.
  2. ^ "Swiss Film Award "Quartz 2010"". Swiss Films.
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