Lazily dubbed by some as the French Heat, Marchal’s police thriller begins by pitting two officers, Léo Vrinks (Daniel Auteuil – Caché) and Denis Klein (Gérard Depardieu – every French film ever) against each other in a contest for the post of division Chief. Whoever nabs the van gang, a group of criminals who have been routinely pulling off a series of outrageous daylight heists, will get the promotion – and neither of them are above corruption and rule-breaking to get what they want.

For the first half, as Vrinks and Klein try and outmanoeuvre each other via a series of dodgy deals and ever more drastic moral compromises, the Heat tag is just about appropriate – 36 is similarly slick and just as brutally violent, and its frantic action sequences, while entertaining, do feel as if they’ve been transposed from Michael Mann’s movie. There’s also the similar face-off of two great acting talents, and Auteuil and Depardieu are certainly superb together, subtly playing off the script’s repeated hints that their enmity is a product more than anything of their past close friendship.

But, in fact, in its first half 36 is not only like Heat but like a hell of a lot of other films as well, making it largely predictably and thoroughly cliché-ridden.

Then, around the midway point, the film veers off in an unexpected direction. It’s a brave and welcome move, and unlike many such twists it actually comes logically from what’s gone before. The second half is an improvement over the first in a number of ways, but particularly because it has a few surprises to offer and a degree of originality. It’s a shame, then, that it builds to such a contrived and disappointing ending.

If 36 were an American movie (as it soon will be, with a remake on the way), it would probably be unremittingly rubbish. As it is, its refusal to be just a routine thriller is what keeps it interesting. It looks unusually nice for a film about cops, with some interesting Parisian locations, and the score – a combination of pseudo-classical and dance – is excellent. All of the cast give committed performances, even those in relatively minor roles, and the leads are superb – particularly Auteuil as Vrinks, capturing perfectly both his character’s shabby world-weariness and his complex, often contradictory morality.

Ultimately, 36 Quai des Orfèvres comes across as half by-the-numbers cop thriller, half updated Jacobean tragedy. In its weaker sections it remains worth watching for Auteuil and Depardieu alone – and while a little more originality would have gone a long way, it’s always nice to see a French movie that isn’t about depressed middle-class couples and their disintegrating marriages.