Gilles de Maistre's political thriller Féroce (Ferocious) is about a man seeking revenge. Arab Alain (Samy Naceri) decides to join a fascistic French political party in order to assassinate the leader, Legle (Jean-Marc Thibault). Alain comes to this decision when his girlfriend's brother is murdered after he had defaced some of the party's paraphernalia. To improve the party's public stance on immigrants, Alain is hired as a security guard. Legle's daughter is attracted to Alain, who is tempted enough by the girl to abandon some of his religious convictions.
Acting
Naceri's simmering restraint vs Thibault's grotesque charisma.
Direction
De Maistre walks the tightrope of sympathetic infiltrator.
Writing
The doomed romance that threatens to dismantle everything.
Director
Gilles de Maistre
Samy Naceri
Alain
Jean-Marc Thibault
Hugues-Henry Lègle, le chef
Bernard Le Coq
Cervois
Claire Keim
Lucie
François Berléand
Inspecteur de police
Elsa Zylberstein
Zébulon - la conseillère en communication
Jocelyn Quivrin
Clément
Philippe Magnan
Trabile
Alika Del Sol
Amina
Dominique Guillo
Debourguen
Josselin Siassia
Honoré, le cuisinier noir
Mostéfa Stiti
Le père d'Alain
Nils Tavernier
Jean, le journaliste
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during Jean-Marie Le Pen's shocking 2002 presidential run, the film landed with nauseating timeliness in France.
Samy Naceri was fresh off Taxi fame; casting him as a brooding infiltrator was deliberate audience subversion.
FR
