Les Misérables: the setting of Ladj Ly’s thriller, a hot cauldron of social, racial and cultural differences, has such an unstable balance that as soon the tension of the story starts to rise, it doesn’t let go. The film is a masterful procedural about a growing crisis, an explosive conflict lurking just around the corner; however, the characters, main players or not, don’t change as the film proceeds. The way they are presented in the introduction to the story is how they reach the end. The film is put together (shot by cinematographer Julien Poupard, edited by Flora Volpelière) in such a way that maximizes the urgency of the story, mixing and justifying the use of handheld camera and drone shots. The large cast is in good shape, defending their characters effectively; Damien Bonnard, who has the closest thing to a rounded character, is rather fine as the new cop on the block.