The film policier developed in French cinema from early attempts to emulate American film noir in the 1940s.  The genre has passed through several phases (including polar, neo-polar and, most recently, post-noir), but the film noir origins are almost nearly always recognisable. 

The film policier invariably centres around an outsider (a law-enforcer or a law-breaker) who assumes the moral high ground and is engaged in a fight for survival against a mightier adversary.  If the central hero is not obviously indestructible (such as Inspector Maigret, Lemmy Caution or virtually any character played by Jean-Paul Belmondo), he will almost certainly perish in the last five minutes of the film.  It goes without saying that the hero is nearly always male, since the world of the policier is inherently rough, bleak and male dominated.

Those directors who can be credited with having mastered the film policier include: Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jacques Becker, Jean-Pierre Melville, Henri Verneuil, Jacques Deray and Georges Lautner.  To this list of luminaries, we should add Claude Chabrol and Costa-Gavras, who have distinguished themselves in the related genres of psychological and political thriller. 

Here is a selection of the finest thrillers in French cinema.