One character I’ve been fascinated with ever since seeing the two movies about his life is Jacques Mesrine. That’s right, not one but two movies…that’s how colourful his life was! Born in Paris in 1939, Mesrine first dabbled in a life of crime in the early ‘60s. By the time of his death in 1979, no one can argue that he hadn’t lived a full life. Granted it was a life less ordinary…multiple bank robberies and kidnappings in Europe and North America. Several arrests and prison sentences. A handful of prison breaks. Committing murder, more than once. A few marriages and a mistress. Restaurant owner. On reading this, the craziest thing about it all is that if a screenwriter came up with this script it would have been considered too far-fetched to be believable! Amazingly, it all happened in real life.

I have to be honest and say that I had never heard of Jacques Mesrine until the first of the two French movies were released in 2009 – Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1. Part of what drew me to the movies was that Vincent Cassel was in the lead role playing Mesrine, and Cassel had been one of my favourite actors ever since his unbelievable turn in the Paris-based immigrant movie La Haine released in 1995. As well as brilliantly bringing his character to life, Cassel also successfully portrayed a sense of humanity in Mesrine. Despite the list of serious crimes he committed, watching the movies you find yourself rooting for him to a certain extent.

It’s certainly worth investing four hours to watch the story of this man’s extraordinary life, maybe in one evening if you’re feeling ambitious or over a few evenings. It’s been six years since I’ve seen the movies in the cinema myself, so I think it’s about time I invested in the two movie box set and had another watch!