Commissariat 2009

In France, a police station is the stage for a face to face encounter between the police and the city's inhabitants. Via the prism of the police institution, Commissariat paints the portrait of a city and its population. The tales of damaged lives are often underpinned by the question of love and a lack of love. For several weeks, Virgil Vernier and Ilan Klipper filmed the life of the police station in Elbeuf, a city near Rouen. From hearings of plaintiffs to interventions in the field, the pair captured on the spot the encounters between the citizen and their police, sometimes for the better, often for the worse.