Enquête sur un scandale d’État is available on Netflix since May 15, 2026. Released in French cinemas on February 9, 2022, Thierry de Peretti's film brings together Pio Marmaï, Roschdy Zem and Vincent Lindon in a political thriller inspired by the investigative book by Emmanuel Fansten and Hubert Avoine.
Investigation into a Government Scandal
Film | 2022
Theatrical release: February 9, 2022
Available on Netflix since May 15, 2026
Biopic, drama, thriller | Runtime: 2h 03
Directed by Thierry de Peretti | Screenplay: Jeanne Aptekman, Thierry de Peretti
Starring Pio Marmaï, Roschdy Zem, Vincent Lindon
Original title: Enquête sur un scandale d’État
Country: France
The story kicks off in October 2015, when French customs seize seven tons of cannabis right in Paris. On the same day, Hubert Antoine, a former undercover narcotics operative, reaches out to Stéphane Vilner, a young reporter at Libération. He claims he can prove the existence of a state-backed drug trafficking network led by Jacques Billard, a high-ranking police official. Initially cautious, the journalist eventually commits to an investigation that pulls him into the most opaque corners of the Republic.
The film adapts L’Infiltré, a book co-authored by journalist Emmanuel Fansten and informant Hubert Avoine. Thierry de Peretti and Jeanne Aptekman worked from accounts, testimonies, hearings, interviews, and minutes to build a fiction anchored in documentary material. The filmmaker is less focused on a courtroom demonstration than on the dynamic between a source and a journalist, their mutual distrust, and the obsession that swells around an investigation.
An Inquiry into a State Scandal sits at the crossroads of investigative cinema, political drama, and drug-trafficking thrillers. The subject invites us to probe the fight against narcotics, its methods, its gray zones, and the power plays it exposes. Part of the shoot took place at Libération’s offices, where the team aimed to blend into the paper’s real newsroom rather than stage a closed set.
Thierry de Peretti reunites several of his collaborators here and extends a formal approach already evident in his earlier films. The 1.33 aspect ratio, long takes, and fluid camera movements sharpen the focus on faces, on conversations, and on moments of uncertainty. The cinematography is by Claire Mathon, with whom the director again collaborates after Les Apaches and Une vie violente.
In the cast, Pio Marmaï plays journalist Stéphane Vilner, Roschdy Zem portrays former undercover operative Hubert Antoine, and Vincent Lindon lends his image to Jacques Billard. The film also brings together Alexis Manenti, Julie Moulier, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Antonia Buresi, and Arnaud Churin. Enquête sur un scandale d’État was named in the 2023 César Awards for Best Adaptation for Thierry de Peretti and Jeanne Aptekman.
The film will appeal to fans of political thrillers, investigative journalism narratives, and French dramas inspired by real cases. Its strength rests on how it weaves a sensitive dossier, a fragile trust, and a staging that deliberately leaves room for doubt.
Trailer for Enquête sur un scandale d’État:
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