Anatomy of Crime fiction

Documentary by Stéphane Bergouhnioux & Jean-Marie Nizan
3 x 52 min - Arte - 2016

Synopsis

We call it crime fiction, noir, thrillers.

Around the world, every day, millions of addicts plunge into its dark and desperate depths. A world where the corruption, cruelty and madness of mankind are just kept at bay by a handful of world-weary, damaged vigilantes. A world where readers, spectators and players go to scare themselves and experience passion and delight.

Code(s) Polar is a trip into the dark; a journey to the heart of the creative process whose guides are the authors of contemporary detective fiction. Coming from all walks of life, they take us into worlds of fiction nevertheless fed by reality. They share their passion and trace them back to the origins of the genre via classic films, cult TV series and iconic heroes of this popular, multifaceted genre, whose codes they help us crack.

Over the course of three episodes, Code(s) Polar takes us on a search for the main elements of today’s crime thriller. And answers three eternal questions: who? where? and how?

Suspense, action, addiction and thrills guaranteed.

With Lydia Andrew, Shelley Birse, Carlo Bonini, David Cage, Michael Connelly, Marc-Alexis Côté, Giancarlo de Cataldo, Rachel De-Lahay, Sam Esmail, Caryl Ferey, Elizabeth George, Juanjo Guarnido, Anurag Kashyap, Philip Kerr, Anne Landois, Angela Makholwa, Michael Mann, Olivier Marchal, Petros Markaris, Guglielmo Muntoni, Hong-jin Na, Jo Nesbø, Nele Neuhaus, Leonardo Oyola, George Pelecanos, François Pelland, Christian Petzold, Andrei Rubanov, Ariel Staltari, David Simon, Angela Strassheim.

Co-produced by Arte France & Beall Productions

ÉQUIPE

Direction Stéphane Bergouhnioux & Jean-Marie Nizan
Production Anne-Solen Douguet
Production director Marie de Labarre
Artistic director narration Pierre Tissot
Photography Stéphane Bergouhnioux, Jean-Marie Nizan, Thierry Vivier (Sam Esmail), Sylvain Grolleau (Shelley Birse) & Sébastien Fallourd
Set designer Anna Brun
Costume director Olivier Marquézy
Editing Nicolas Dumond, Fabien Bouillaud & Agathe Cauvin
Color grading Olivier Cohen
Music Laetitia Pansanel-Garric
Sound mixing Xavier Benoist - Pocket Studio
Commentary Yann Epstein
Researcher Kahina Kaci
Programmation consultants Hélène Fischbach, Stephan Bataillard, Eric Vérat & Didier Allouch
Production assistants Hassiba Belhadj & Caroline Martin
Production administrator Pierre Garry
Production intern Thomas Olland
Post-production Guillaume Parrain avec Eva Delpierre - Pixel & Decibel