Accomplice 2010

In Lyon, two detectives, both single and childless, begin to untangle the case of Vince, whose strangled body surfaces along the river Rhône. The investigation quickly centers on Vince’s double life as a high-end male sex worker who finds clients online and meets them in hotels, a mode of life that casts a long shadow over everyone connected to him. The atmosphere is cool and precise, tracing routines and risk as the clues accumulate.

Vince’s girlfriend Reb is a student who agreed to join him in threesomes, a choice that broadens his client base and his earnings. This arrangement reveals a relationship built on trust, shared risk, and a pragmatism that weathered the margins of legality and desire. As the story unfolds, the dynamics between Vince, Reb, and their world become central to understanding motive and opportunity.

One encounter turns violent when the client becomes rough with Reb. Vince responds with force, and the two flee, a moment that hardens into a tactic: Vince blacklists the man and arranges a return meeting on the top floor of a multi-storey car park. After the handover of money, the client assaults Vince with a golf club, and Reb intervenes with her motorbike helmet, delivering blows that prove fatal. Vince and Reb hide the body in Vince’s car and flee, a decision that threads their fates together in a dangerous web of complicity and fear.

A confrontation later unfolds as Vince’s pimp arrives to claim his share of the takings. A struggle erupts, and the pimp chokes Vince before dumping his body in the Rhône. The detectives pursue the pimp for murder, but Reb—young, in love with Vince, pregnant with his child, and supported by her mother—bears the burden of altered testimony. To protect her, authorities doctor her statement, effectively exonerating Reb from the murder charge.

The case, maintained with procedural steadiness, delves into themes of loyalty, coercion, and the moral ambiguity faced by those drawn into a clandestine economy. It charts how love, fear, and self-preservation can shape truth in the eyes of the law, even as the river continues to flow and secrets stay buried beneath the surface.

The film also features contributions from several performers: D.J. Mendel provides a voice, there is archival footage of Jean-Luc Godard, and David Poeppel along with Jordana Maurer appear in the production, adding layers to the texture of the narrative.