36 quai des Orfèvres: is this film based on a true story?

Released in theaters in 2004, the film baptized 36 Quai des Goldsmiths, worn by Gérard Depardieu and Daniel Auteuil, will be rebroadcast on Sunday January 2, 2022, from 11 p.m. on France 2. Directed by Olivier Marchal, this feature film takes place in the Paris region, where transport of funds is attacked with a weapon of war. The hierarchy of the police forces exacerbates the competition between the boss of the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI), played by Daniel Auteuil, and that of the Banditry Repression Brigade (BRB), performed by Gérard Depardieu, yet old friends. The post of director of 36 Quai des Goldsmiths will reward whoever stops the gang responsible for these violent armed attacks.

The two men will not hesitate to use illegal means to succeed. Unfortunately for the character of Daniel Auteuil, his conditional indicator, played by Roschdy Zem, kill a man in front of his eyes. He then asks for his silence against information on the location of the robbers’ hideout. But the head of the BRB decides to investigate this new murder, although this case is not within his jurisdiction, because the victim was his informer. Himself a former policeman, Olivier Marchal was inspired by two stories that really happened to write the screenplay for 36 Quai des Goldsmiths.

36 quai des Orfèvres: two cases linked to the origin of the film

The first is an operation to dismantle the Hairpiece Gang, which ended in a fiasco. Warned of a hostage-taking in a bank rue du Dr Blanche, the BRI (Research and Intervention Brigade) and the BRB (Banditry Repression Brigade) were awaiting the exit of the mobsters to follow them. But a BRB department head chose to fire without warning. After a terrible shooting, a policeman, Jean Vrindts, and a thug were killed, which sparked a sling within the PJ.

The second is the business of “gang of rascals“. In fact, a team of police officers, mostly belonging to the elite brigade, had engaged in various embezzlements. A list of “rogue cops“ended up circulating, and the name of Jean Vrindts, killed during the blunder of the rue du Dr Blanche, had been mentioned. This rekindled the police revolt, accusing the administration of wanting “cover“this blunder by implicating their colleague. On this”blacklist“also appeared the name of Dominique Loiseau, who never ceased to proclaim his innocence. He was nevertheless sentenced to 12 years of criminal imprisonment in 1990., before being pardoned in 1993. There was no other conviction in this case.

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