The Outcasts

Damien and his friends are garbage collectors in a small provincial town. One day, Damien finds a decomposing corpse in the dump where he works, but also a knife that turns out to be his. Because of his personal and social environment (an omnipresent mother, humiliating friends, an unenviable situation) and because he arrives at a moment in his life when he realizes that he is nothing to anyone, Damien wants to prove that he is capable of doing something with his life, of becoming someone, by finding the murderer who is prowling around the dump. In the course of his investigation, he meets Julie, a young divorced woman who is a little lost and who moves in across the street from him. But as his investigations progress, Damien wonders if he is not the killer he is looking for.

Directed by Yvan Gauthier, The Outcasts leans on a strong ensemble — Christopher Buchholz, Frédéric Pellegeay, Virginie Aster — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about crime titles of 2001.