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Alfred Hitchcock said "Drama is life with the dull bits cut out." With Le Petit Lieutenant, director Beauvois has taken the opposite approach. Although he's ostensibly made a police drama, the French filmmaker is more concerned with subtle observations than the usual thrills associated with the genre. Even the sex and violence (what little there is) has a certain clinical detachment to it.
We first meet Antoine (Lespert) as he graduates to the Paris police force. He is the film's title character, but not necessarily its main protagonist. He's an enthusiastic cop, eager to please. He joins the plainclothes crime division and before long is hanging out with his fellow officers, joking and drinking. A Moroccan named Solo (Zem) befriends him. He also catches the eye of his commandant, Caroline (Baye).
The commandant is a mystery at first. She's returning to a desk job after a bout with alcoholism following the death of her son, who would be the age of the lieutenant. Antoine is yearning for a real assignment, and gets his wish when the beaten body of a homeless man is pulled from the canal. The two of them begin to develop a friendly relationship while working on the case, before a violent confrontation lands Antoine in the hospital and shifts the narrative over to Caroline.
There is action in the film, but Beauvois is more concerned with the day-to-day details of police work, and moves at a measured pace. Occasionally there is an autopsy or an arrest, but mostly there's desk work. It's almost as if they were shooting a documentary and forget to edit it.
Beauvois remains best known for his critically acclaimed Ponette a decade ago, though Lieutenant garnered five Cesar nominations (the French equivalent of an Oscar), including best picture, director, supporting actor (for Zem) and screenplay. The category it won was best actress for Baye, and her smoldering performance fuels the film. She is a strong woman, but losing everything around her causes her to crack. The haunting final shot says more about her than a thousand chase scenes ever could.