Tip Top

Farid an Algerian policeman turned informant for the French police is found murdered in a small French town. Two offbeat, and unethical female investigators, a fercely authoritarian and sadomasochistic Isabelle Huppert paired with an inquisitive, mousy, and voyeuristic Sandrine Kimberlain, are brought in to investigate the possibility of police involvement with the murder. Meanwhile the seemingly degenerate cop with a heart of gold, Mendes, acquires a new, eager, albeit naive Algerian informant, Younes, who quickly gets into trouble. We are later introduced to Farid’s silently suffering wife, an ethnic French woman, and increasingly violent son. Both characters are made to jump through hoops by the French police and Algerian immigrant community culminating in an explosive yet understated climax revealing the full extent of the corruption within the police force and French society. Serge Bozon’s TIP TOP is a sharp and witty absurdist political commentary that will leave audiences with more questions about modern day France than answers, but maybe that’s the point.