In Restless (2022), Thomas (Franck Gastambide), corrupt cop, muscle bear, and single dad to an army toy-loving daughter, is having a very bad day. First, inspectors from internal affairs are coming, and they'll find the stash of bribe money in his locker -- unless his buds on the force, muscle chunk Marc (Michael Abetiboul) and suspicious Naomi (Tracy Gotoas), flush it for him. Second, his mother died. Third, on the way to the hospital, he hits and kills a pedestrian.
Through some intricate machinations involving an army toy, balloons, shoelaces, and a crucifix, he manages to stash the corpse in his mother's coffin. And hope that the cell phone he accidentally sealed in with it doesn't ring at an inopportune time. It does ring, in the hearse on the way to the cemetery, but the funeral director doesn't think anything of it. Lots of old ladies have heavy metal ringtones.
After hiding the pedestrian damage to his car by getting into another accident, Thomas tries to get back to normal, being a corrupt cop, taking bribes and kickbacks and pocketing evidence to sell later. Things start to lag, but we need time to establish that Thomas, Marc, and Naomi are all heterosexual.
Then the Chief gives Thomas a new "girlfriend" (heterosexist term for a bad guy to arrest): drug lord and pimp Manuel Barcelo (Nabil Missoumi). Surprise -- it's the pedestrian he ran over!
Only when they start to investigate Manuel's humongous boat garage does Thomas realize that the accident scene nearby has clues: tire skids, blood, glass shards. He rushes over, but it's too late. Agent Bertin (Marius Blondeau) arrives to investigate: someone called in a hit and run, and even knew that the driver shoved the victim into his trunk! The surveillance camera probably caught the whole thing.
Oh, no, more evidence that Thomas has to find and destroy!
When Marc, Agent Bertin, and a very nervous Thomas review the footage, they don't see the accident. But Marc does identify the car -- "A gray BMW, just like yours!"
Plus Thomas's sister, who has psychic powers, announces that Mom had a lover: "In my vision I saw a man lying right next to her." Yet more evidence!
Plus he starts getting threatening calls from the eyewitness. This isn't I Know What You Did Last Summer. We find out his identity very quickly -- someone who can't be touched. And who wants Thomas to bring him Manuel's body!
What happens next is sort of by the book, but getting there was certainly a wild ride.
Beefcake: None. Some of the guys are cute.
Gay Characters: Thomas is divorced, presumably from a woman, but maybe from a man. Nothing is specified.
Heterosexism: Minimal. No romantic plotline: Thomas' sister, not a girlfriend, plays the Damsel in Distress. Marc mentions a wife at home, and Naomi is told that the munitions guy is flirting with her, and that's it.
Bad Guys: Really a matter of bad guys, worse guys, and hella awful guys. After all, the protagonist kills someone in a hit and run accident and then hides the body in his mother's coffin. He's not exactly a role model.
Franck Gastambide's Penis. Pornhub has a video featuring someone named Franck Gastambide getting a hand job from an unseen guy. He addresses the camera in English. I compared the pornhub penis with Gastombide's penis in Toute Premiere Fois (2015), about a gay man who turns straight. Much smaller. But I understand that they get bigger under some circumstances?
My Grade: B.