Excellent analysis of a gendarmes daily work in a remote part of French countryside. Jeremie Renier awesome, convincing, powerful in his dedicated gendarme role investigating around a man gettig mad about the loss of his farm. It seems to have been made for TV audiences, for a saturday evening program, but it was not. You don't get bored in this story, so realistic, gripping, at a scale I could not stay cold after the viewing of this best Xavier Beauvois's material; an unexpected ending.

The structure of this film is classic in character study: a first part focused on establishing the protagonist as a well-adjusted and integral party of his community, a second part showing his isolation and despair following a traumatic (and stupid) incident that throws his life off its carefully constructed rails.

The problem is that each of these parts is far too long and the underlying context (the societal issues with farming in the first part, the mental issues dealing with guilt in the second) are barely noted besides some small moments that the filmmakers almost seemed obliged to put in, and this could have provided better context and depth to the narrative. Although these issues can be guessed, this makes it harder to care, despite the excellent work by Rénier in the lead role.

A fast paced movie giving a glimpse into the scenes and decisions of an average policeman. Sadly the movie is held back by very weak female roles and leaves you with an unpleasant feeling of imposed patriarchy after watching the movie.