After the Life
2003 ‘Après La Vie’ Directed by Lucas Belvaux
Synopsis
Pascal Manise est un policier sans états d'âme, dont la femme, Agnès, est morphinomane. Celle-ci se droguait déjà quand ils se sont connus. Tout ce que Pascal a pu faire, c'est lui éviter la déchéance. Il traite avec Jaquillat, un dealer grenoblois qui le fournit en morphine, en échange de quoi Pascal ferme les yeux sur son commerce illégal.
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Somehow, despite how it contains the most payoffs and miraculously makes Pascal's and Agnes's relationship seem remarkably complex, After Life also betrays the original film by exposing how much less compelling a politically outdated lammist can be when an angry cop can no longer supply his wife with morphine. I'm being serious, though: The catharsis gives After Life the definite edge over On the Run, even on a storytelling level: An honest ending beats one rife with metaphor. It's a let down that neither film really works on its own, but it's also a testament to the symbiotic nature of both films, itself a better comment on the needy humanity Belvaux sees through his lens.