''Night Shift'' (french: Police, links=yes) is a 2020

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed by

Anne Fontaine Anne Fontaine (born Anne-Fontaine Sibertin-Blanc; 15 July 1959) is a Luxembourger film director, screenwriter, and former actress. She lives and works in France. Life and career Born Anne-Fontaine Sibertin-Blanc in Luxembourg, sister of actor Je ...

, who co-wrote the screenplay with Claire Barré. It is an adaptation of the 2016 novel ''Police'' by

Hugo Boris Hugo Boris (born 18 November 1979 in Paris), is a French writer. Biography Born in 1979, Boris is graduated from the Institut d'études politiques de Bordeaux and the École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière. In 2003, his short story ''N'o ...

. It is a co-production between France and Belgium. The film stars

Omar Sy Omar Sy (, ff, 𞤌𞤥𞤢𞤪 𞤅𞤭, Omar Si; born 20 January 1978) is a French actor, best known in France for his sketches with Fred Testot on the '' Service après-vente des émissions'' television show on Canal+ (2005–2012). He gaine ...

Virginie Efira Virginie Efira (born 5 May 1977) is a Belgian actress and television presenter. Efira got her first leading role in the romantic comedy ''It Boy'' (2013). She subsequently received critical praise for her performance in the comedy drama '' In Be ...

Grégory Gadebois Grégory Gadebois (born 24 July 1976) is a French actor. Life and career He studied at the CNSAD in the classroom of Catherine Hiegel and Dominique Valadié. He was a member of the Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-F ...

and

Payman Maadi Payman Maadi ( fa, پیمان معادی; born 1972), also known as Peyman Moadi, is an Iranian American actor, screenwriter and director. He is best known for starring in the films ''A Separation'' (2011) and ''About Elly'' (2009) by Iranian A ...

. It had its world premiere at the

70th Berlin International Film Festival The 70th annual Berlin International Film Festival took place from 20 February to 1 March 2020. It was the first under the leadership of new Berlin Film Festival heads, business administration director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director C ...

on 23 February 2020. It was released in France and Belgium on 2 September 2020.

Premise

Three Parisian police officers are tasked with escorting an illegal immigrant from Tajikistan who is subject to deportation from France. The officers face an ethical dilemma when they are confronted with the reality that their prisoner will likely be killed upon return to his home country.

Cast

Production

''Night Shift'' was produced by

Jean-Louis Livi Jean-Louis Livi (born 29 January 1941) is a French film producer. Livi was nominated for an Academy Award and two BAFTA Film Awards for producing '' The Father'' (2020). Early life Jean-Louis Livi is the son of Giuliano/Julien Livi (1917–19 ...

at F Comme Film and

Philippe Carcassonne Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince Philippe, Count o ...

at Ciné@, in co-production with

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...

France 2 Cinéma France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 ...

France 3 Cinéma France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services providing ...

, Omar Sy's Korokoro and Belgian firm Scope Pictures. Filming took place in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and in the

Île-de-France , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 = +01:00 , timezone1_DST = CEST , utc_offset1_DST = +02:00 , blank_name_sec1 = Gross regional product , blank_info_sec1 = Ranked 1st , bla ...

region, beginning on 4 February 2019 and lasting nine weeks. Restricted by the ban on filming in police stations, interior scenes were instead shot in a former

Orange S.A. Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 59,000 elsewhere. In 2015, ...

data center located in

Antony, Hauts-de-Seine Antony () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. Antony is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and the seat of the arrondissement of Antony. Watered by the Bièvre, a tributary of the ...

Release

''Night Shift'' was selected to be screened in the section at the

. It had its world premiere in Berlin on 23 February 2020. The film was originally scheduled to be released theatrically on 1 April 2020, but was postponed due to the French government's decision to close cinemas in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The release was initially rescheduled to 6 May 2020, but was postponed to 3 June 2020. The film was finally released on 2 September 2020, by

in France and Athena Films in Belgium.

Reception

Critical response

''Night Shift'' received an average rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars on the French website AlloCiné, based on 31 reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. Jordan Mintzer of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' wrote, "The cast is convincing enough, and the changing viewpoints intriguing enough, to allow you to forget some of the broader aspects of the writing and delve into the character dynamics". Jonathan Romney of ''

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

'' wrote, "''Night Shift'' – despite despite its clever, multi-angled opening gambit – proves a solemn, emotionally overwrought, narratively implausible affair".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Night Shift 2020 films 2020 drama films 2020s French films 2020s French-language films French-language Belgian films Films based on French novels Films directed by Anne Fontaine French films based on novels French drama films Belgian drama films French police films France 2 Cinéma films France 3 Cinéma films StudioCanal films Films shot in Paris Films shot in Île-de-France Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films about immigration to France Films set in Paris Films produced by Philippe Carcassonne 2020s Belgian films