Jean Dujardin, Cedric Jimenez on Counter-Terrorism Thriller ‘November’ Screening at Cannes

variety.com:

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentJean Dujardin, best known for his roles in light-hearted films such as the Oscar-winning “The Artist,” plays the fierce boss of a highly-secretive police brigade that tracked down the assailants of the 2015 Paris attacks in Cedric Jimenez’s “November.”Written by Olivier Demangel (“Atlantics”), the fast-paced and tense thriller world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and is being represented in international markets by Studiocanal.

Jimenez, who was at Cannes last year with another action-packed police thriller, “The Stronghold,” sat alongside Dujardin with Variety during the festival to discuss the genesis of “November,” how the ensemble cast — including Dujardin, Sandrine Kiberlain, Anais Demoustier and a flurry of fresh faces — worked together, and what it meant for them to tackle this recent tragedy. “November” is one of the few recent movies alluding to, or set against the backdrop of the Paris terror attacks of 2015, for instance Alice Winocour’s “Paris Memories” and Isaki Lacuesta’s “One Day, One Night.” But these films are told from the perspective of survivors.

How would you say that your film differs from these?My film isn’t about the attacks but rather about the tentacular investigation that was carried on by this special brigade to track down the two masterminds behind the attacks for five days.

It was a race against the clock because they were plotting another attack at a day care. We’re with them non-stop starting from the moment they find out what happened at the Bataclan and across the city, and we see them investigating, hitting dead-ends, finding cues and ultimately succeeding.