Après la Vie (2002)

After Life is the third film in Lucas Belvaux's ambitious Trilogy, following On the Run, a thriller, and An Amazing Couple, a romantic comedy. After Life features the same characters as the other two films and happens over the same time period, but it's a melodrama, and the focus is on Pascal (Gilbert Melki), a cop, and his wife, Agnes (Dominique Blanc), a teacher, who is also a morphine addict. Agnes depends on Pascal to supply her with morphine, and he in turn has an arrangement to procure the drug from a nefarious local businessman, Jaquillat (Patrick Descamps). When a violent radical leftist, Bruno (Belvaux), escapes from prison and kills an associate of Jaquillat's, Jaquillat threatens to withhold Pascal's morphine supply until Bruno is dead. As his wife's mental and physical health deteriorates, Pascal feels compelled to subvert his moral qualms about turning the criminal over. His investigation leads him to detain Jeanne (Catherine Frot), a co-worker of Agnes' with past ties to Bruno. Cécile (Ornella Muti), another of Agnes' co-workers, begins to suspect that her husband, Alain (François Morel), is having an affair, and asks Pascal to look into it. Pascal finds his interest in the case is more than professional when he begins to develop feelings for Cécile. Meanwhile, Agnes, feeling neglected and desperate, goes out into the street to try to find her fix. She ends up running into Bruno, and the two forge an unlikely alliance. Belvaux's Trilogy was shown at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi