Melanie Laurent (Wingwomen) continues her increasingly prolific directorial career with Freedom (now streaming on Amazon Prime Video), a heavily styled pseudo-bio of infamous French heistmeister Bruno Sulak. Emily in Paris star Lucas Bravo plays the charismatic thief, who was known for saying please and thank you and good day, and for never hurting anyone physically, while knocking over supermarkets and jewelry stores; his early-1980s crime spree also included more than one audacious escape from police custody. For that, he earned quasi-folk-hero status, which Laurent plays up with more than a little visual poetry.Â
FREEDOM: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: Hereâs how it works: Bruno (Bravo) gets the cashiers to hand over the cash while his partner Drago (Steve Tientcheu) handles the manager in the office with the safe. Outside, Annie (Lea Luce Busato) sits in the driverâs seat, ready to slam on the gas. Maybe theyâll get the security guard to hand over the surveillance tape and maybe Bruno will grab a lollipop for a treat, but Bruno will definitely be courteous the whole time, keeping the customers and employees calm, possibly even charmed. The cops are always a step or two or three behind them, led by the frustrated Georges Moreas (Yvan Attal), who pulls in two grocery checkers for information, and has to listen to them gush over how handsome and polite Bruno was.
But sorry, ladies, Brunoâs taken. We watch a montage of a subsequent supermarket-robbery spree and in-between the holdups, Bruno and Annie eat each other alive like succulent cupcakes. Dragoâs partner Marika (Leo Chalie) arrives, and they party and plan the heists at a remote, gorgeously sundrenched villa as their headquarters. Their pal Patrick (David Murgia) arrives to help out, but heâs a bit weaselly and nervous and a robbery nearly goes sideways when his gun goes off, violating Brunoâs big rule, that you point guns at people but never, ever pull the trigger. A crook has to have standards, see. Meanwhile, Moreas stops short of pounding his desk and bellowing Bru-NOOOOOOOOOO! with every subsequent holdup.
One night, Bruno bolts awake and gets everyone up and out of the villa. Wouldnât you know it, the cops found out where they were holed up and they were coming and they got out. His Spidey sense mustâve been righteously tingling. They meet a Yugoslavian gent named Steve (Radivoje Bukvic), who helps them in their new scheme to rob jewelry stores, which goes smashingly â until it doesnât. Bruno gets pinched. Moreas isnât even smug about it. In fact, there seems to be mutual admiration and respect between him and Bruno, like when Tom and Jerry are pals when they arenât beating each other senseless with waffle irons and ballpeen hammers. At this point, weâre only 40 minutes in, so I guess the rest of the film is a prison drama then, right? Hell no! Bruno busts out, because he isnât done stealing shit or making sweet sweaty love to Annie yet. Or sharing his thesis statement with Moreas â it has something to do with how Bruno, even if heâs imprisoned, will always be more free than Moreas. Itâs always about your perspective, and whether you live your life with gusto and do what youâre good at, or are content to settle for what you get and color within the lines. Dudeâs not just a damn good crook, but a philosopher, too.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Freedom is an oh-so-French-flavored melange of Bonnie and Clyde and American Made, with some hints of the documentary How to Rob a Bank on the back end of the flavor profile.
Performance Worth Watching: Thereâs more to Attalâs characterization of the frustrated-but-never-flustered cop than any other person in the film; Moreas is a bit weary but not quite cynical, and his intense desire to nab Bruno reflects the robberâs obsession right back at him.
Memorable Dialogue: Annie: âIâm not a thugâs girl, Iâm with an artist. A poet, an outsider, a rebel.â
Sex and Skin: Fair amounts of butts-and-boobs steamy rutting.
Our Take: Freedom is essentially about three relationships Bruno values: The love story with Annie is sweet and sexy, and itâs easy to be enamored by the horny chemistry of these two objectively highly attractive actors, even when their relationship comes off flimsy and underwritten. Brunoâs partnership with Steve evolves into best-pals friendship, especially upon realizing how two gents can get pretty tight when theyâre working together so closely and successfully; this relationship could use a little more dramatic traction, but the warmth between them gives the story a little more depth. As for the third one, between Moreas and Bruno? Their interactions never cease to be fascinating, and their relationship evolves as the movie progresses, from rivals to, for lack of a better word, friends â and therein lies the pleasant surprise of a movie about âgood guysâ pursuing the devil-may-care crime spree of the âbad guys.â
Yet thereâs a lingering sense that Laurent â co-writing with Christophe Deslandes â wrote and shot Freedom just to see what emerges from it. Questing for the bigger story here turns up the idea that freedom is, like, a state of mind, man. That mingles with the notion that itâs not necessarily what you do but who you do it with that matters, although that doesnât take into account how nobly never pulling the trigger doesnât mean that someone canât be indelibly traumatized by having a gun stuck in their face.
Laurentâs visual method is dynamic and inspired throughout, creating a freewheeling vibe that gives us a sense of the adrenaline and joy these characters experience; she tends to lean heavily on montages, but theyâre far more inspired and artfully constructed than most. If the screenplay fails at anything, itâs in properly establishing and following through with the folk-hero context of Brunoâs story. But Laurent tsnât content to stick with a just-the-facts narrative, or pass any moral judgment on these characters. She definitely lionizes Bruno, underscoring his artistâs soul, even if heâs engaging in malfeasant art. That approach, sans the archness of satire or deviant admiration, is a refreshingly, well, French way of going about it.
Our Call: Freedom features rock-solid writing, direction and performances. It moves expeditiously, and with plenty of style â and just enough substance to warrant a watch. STREAM IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Freedom’ on Amazon Prime Video, Director Melanie Laurent’s Compelling Snapshot of Real-Life French Heistmeister Bruno Sulak appeared first on Decider.
