Is Laurent Lafitte making A Good Lawyer for Netflix? (critical)
After Tapie, Tristan Séguéla reunites with the actor for a nervous courtroom thriller, where a lawyer addicted to cocaine must choose between his talent and his conscience.
The last time we saw Laurent Lafitte, it was on stage and on the high heels of Zaza Napoli.
He played a cabaret star who lived for the spotlight. Here he is again on Netflix, this time in the dress of Léonard Landry, tenor of the bar who collapses in full hearing, in front of the court, overcome by an overdose. Two costumes (one with sequins, the other darker), two numbers, and each time one is obvious: Lafitte is never as fair as when he plays men who play. Here, the courtroom is a stage, the pleading a round of singing, and coke serves as fuel.
But A good lawyer is not limited to its interpreter. The title is a trap, which Tristan Séguéla will slowly close on his character.
Released from rehab, Landry has one week to save his career and prepare for the trial of his life: the defense of an industrial group accused of complicity with a terrorist network in Africa. A good lawyerSO. But in what sense? Gifted or fair? Effective or honest? The entire film is held within this gap, and the filmmaker gradually widens it, scene after scene.
Because behind the burning issue that Landry will have to take care of, we can see the echo of the Lafarge affair. Not quite the ideal client to rebuild his virginity or his morals… And in fact, Séguéla knows this area well. Since the series Tapiehe films virtuosos of the verb, guys launched into a race against time (and against themselves) that their “talent” always ends up devouring. A good lawyer pushes the sliders a little further. The countdown not only builds pressure, it forces Landry to choose. Without the coke, what’s left of the lawyer when the act ends? And is the one who stays better than the other? Sober, without his artifices, Landry has only his conscience to plead. Of his entire career, this is undoubtedly the most difficult cause. Fortunately, he can count on his little lieutenant, Noé, a stubborn and somewhat clumsy intern, played to perfection by Anthony Bajon. Their duo is the real success of the film. Bajon is not content to embody virtue in the face of the tired cynic: his character doubts, drifts, lets himself be tempted in turn, while Landry gradually rediscovers the taste for being fair. And each one rubs off on the other.
Tristan Séguéla is careful not to say too quickly who is right. Around them, Carole Bouquet and Mélanie Laurent embody this world of power, corruption and money which needs men like Landry, and knows exactly at what price to buy them. We regularly think of the American courtroom cinema of the 80s, of Verdict de Lumet and all these stories of washed-up guys looking in the courtroom for one last chance to be a good guy. Séguéla finds the energy without the nostalgia. And for him, redemption has a cost. The rhythm is tense (sometimes too much – the beginning is a bit overwhelming) because it follows, basically, the cavalcade of a man who no longer has the right to make mistakes. Each day that passes brings him closer to his own trial.
That leaves Laurent Lafitte, who holds the film from start to finish. After the possessed Bernard Tapie of the series, he composes another dark man, but more fragile, more elusive, a guy who discovers that his talent served him above all as an alibi. The actor plays this fall without pathos or cynicism: he lets doubt surface beneath the eloquence. A good actor.
A Good Lawyer, by Tristan Séguéla, with Laurent Lafitte, Anthony Bajon, Carole Bouquet… Available on Netflix today.
