Moody 'Lieutenant' keeps Baye in check
Nathalie Baye in handcuffs isn't a pretty sight.
She's not literally doing the perp walk, of course. In "Le Petit Lieutenant," the great French actress plays a commander in the Paris police. Her character, despite some dents in her honor, is pretty much beyond reproach, and she's a knockout to boot. The cuffs are there nonetheless.
Like Helen Mirren, to whom she bears a certain resemblance, Baye is fearless. From 1982's "La Balance," in which she played a prostitute turned avenging informer, to 1999's "An Affair of Love," where she lit up the screen as a woman brought to life by an anonymous relationship, Baye has powered more than 60 movies. We don't get enough of her here, unfortunately: since "Affair," she's racked up a dozen films in France, yet we've only seen her in a minor role in "Catch Me If You Can." (In case you didn't notice, she played Leonardo DiCaprio's mom.)
So Baye is finally back stateside, this time in Xavier Beauvois's moody police procedural. She plays Caroline Vaudieu, who returns to the Paris police after an extended absence. "I haven't touched a drop in two years," she tells someone who knew her then, just before she's introduced to her new charges. "That's good," he replies , and we're on to the plot.
The "petit lieutenant" of the title is a new officer, Antoine Derouère (Jalil Lespert). He's fresh from the sticks, having taken a post in the big city against his wife's wishes. He's naive and enthusiastic, confused by the drug squad's late-night celebrations after a big bust, yet thrilled by the power he has -- siren on, foot down spells fun. His work is mostly boredom, however, until two men are brutally assaulted and dumped into the Seine. For her team, Vaudieu picks Derouère and a host of French cop-film types -- the charming grumbler (Antoine Chappey), the second-generation immigrant (Roschdy Zem), the soft-faced cynic (Beauvois himself) -- and together they hit the cobblestones.
From here we get a plateful of stakeouts, brandished weapons, and autopsies. Vaudieu lost a young son years before, and she tries to protect Derouère even as she sends him into danger. The real dramatic tension, however, is whether Vaudieu can stay away from the bottle. She's back on the force, and worse, back in Paris, thick with restaurants and cafes, old loves and older memories. Light glistens from inside bars, glasses are appraised, raised, and weighed. Will she crumble?
In the latest TV edition of "Prime Suspect," Mirren plays a police superintendent facing similar challenges, but sobriety is a receding goal -- the binges, blackouts, and self-loathing are all present and accounted for. For Baye, the challenge is to draw in the viewer with what her character doesn't do -- it's all about trembling restraint. She gives it her absolute best, and can convey heartache with a crinkle of the lips and a flick of the eyes. Someone's sitting alone in an apartment, and looking out the window has rarely been so poignant -- you sense her loss, determination, anger, and teetering self-control, all without a single word of dialogue.
Beauvois applies a similar control to the movie itself, often with good results: Characters are sketched quickly and simply; histrionics are few and action sequences both muted and realistic -- Vaudieu gets in a foot chase with a suspect and ends up out of breath, calling for backup. The director is no Gallic Michael Mann, and for that we can be thankful.
Yet you can sense Baye's struggling within the limits imposed on her. In her own way, she can convey the heat of a Penelope Cruz, the power of Mirren, the barely contained madness of Judi Dench -- but not here. They're just not on the beat she's been given. So that leaves us hoping that the wait for her next role won't be as long, and that when we get it, she won't just be walking the line.
Leighton Klein can be reached at lklein@globe.com. For more on movies, go to boston.com/ae/movies/blog. 
