Film review: ‘NOVEMBER’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’

On November 13, 2015, Paris was tragically hit by a series of terrorist attacks including the suicide bombing at Stade de France and the mass shooting ag the Bataclan Theatre.  The various attacks resulted in 130 deaths.  The tense, white knuckle French film, November, powerfully and viscerally dramatises the investigation into and pursuit of the terrorists who committed the attacks.

Leading a large and impressive cast, Jean Dujardin plays the investigator, just known as Fred, who coordinates the desperate operation to catch the terrorists before they commit another attack.  Also, through briefings to his officers he articulates the trauma the attacks wrought on the city.

With its palpable tension, fidgety camera work, rapid fire editing and frenzied action, the film recalls the early work of Paul Greengrass while the brutal efficiency with which it recounts the investigation is reminiscent of a film like Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty.  While November’s fierce energy is relentless, thankfully, director Cédric Jimenez doesn’t go overboard with the ‘wobble-cam’ as too often happened with action films of the 2000’s and November manages to be both unsettling and visually coherent.

Although it occasionally diverts to Belgium and Greece where the terrorist cells had been established, the film is mostly focused on the events in Paris.  The film gives a vivid sense of the scale of the investigation as it jumps from the cluttered, noisy Secret Service headquarters to the suspects’ housing estate hideouts to the bustling Paris streets.  With the film’s furious pace, complex web of events and multiple suspects (and being in French with subtitles), it can be hard to keep up and there is the occasional feeling of information overload as if we’re watching a miniseries squashed into 109 minutes.  Still, some feeling of confusion and disorientation seems appropriate given the shocking impact of the attacks.

Critically, discernible characters with relatable human qualities and flaws emerge from the tumult.  As well as investigator Fred, the film focusses on struggling but determined new officer Ines (Anaïs Demoustier) and the courageous but conflicted informant Samia (Lyna Khoudri The French Dispatch, Haute Couture).  The film builds mini dramas around these characters as they face enormous pressure to catch the terrorists or divulge what they know while; the police occasionally copping a bollocking from superiors when their attempts to make a breakthrough go wrong.

This film is, amid its dramas and often fierce action scenes, a procedural so audiences shouldn’t expect a detailed examination of the socio-cultural and historical events surrounding the attacks or geopolitics generally.  It sets out to catalogue specific events and to honour those affected by the attacks and those involved in the astonishingly difficult and emotionally charged investigation and it does so very effectively.

Nick’s rating: ****

Genre: Drama/ Action/ historical.

Classification: M.

Director(s): Cédric Jimenez.

Release date: 11th May 2023.

Running time: 107 mins.

Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.

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