Faits divers (1983)

In early summer 1982, the everyday work of police officers at the Paris police station is filmed through a series of “incidents”: statements from disoriented people or people speaking incoherently, arrests, disputes settled amicably, responses to suicide attempts, and so on. The camera follows the police van through its patrol area and the station’s premises on Rue Basse-des-Carmes. It focuses mainly on the people the police encounter: the defiant smile of a Romani woman who has been stopped, the sadness and compassion of a victim of a drug addict, the satisfaction of a woman proud to have resisted a bag-snatching and complaining that France is no longer France, and so on. The confrontations between the police officers and these people are also highlighted: one inspector briskly wraps up a rape case by berating the complainant and the suspect; one officer looks impassively at a woman lying on the ground after taking barbiturates; another negotiates with a woman who refuses to open the door to him. Relations between the officers are also treated, more peripherally. The scenes are filmed without commentary. The soundtrack includes the sounds of the vehicles; during brief, contemplative intervals, the sounds of activity fade away and excerpts of classical music are played.