Arnold French

Arnold French, commonly known as Mr. French, is the tertiary antagonist of The Departed. He was Frank Costello's right-hand man and chief enforcer, as well as his closest friend.

He was portrayed by Ray Winstone.

Biography[]

Frank Costello's gang[]

Born around 1957. French's past is not very well known, but it is mentioned that he was a boyhood friend of Jackie Costigan, and was very close with his family, as his mother was nice to him. It is known that he married towards the 70s. At some point French strangled his wife to death with a garrote wire, presumably for infidelity. French later joined the South Boston Gang, and worked under Frank Costello. French had known Costello for many years, and he was the only person he trusted. He worked in the gang as his right-hand man and chief hitman. French went to collect from bookies, and to enforce Costello’s reign over their territory.

Billy Costigan recruitment[]

In 2006, the Special Investigation Unit began a case involving Costello and his gang. While Colin Sullivan is accepted into the SIU, becoming a Sergeant, Captain Oliver Queenan and Staff Sergeant Sean Dignam, recruit Billy Costigan as an infiltrator in the Boston gang, thanks to his connection to the gang as Jackie’s nephew. After four months in prison^[2], Costigan is released, and starts doing cocaine deals with his cousin Sean. After a fight in a Costello bar in Worcester, he is stopped by French, who tells him he knows his family. The next day, in the same bar, Billy meets Costello, but finds out got in trouble after he beat up Italian-American mobsters. Before trusting Costigan, French was commissioned to search him. Costello eventually grows to trust Costigan, and here Costigan starts his cover. Billy will work with French and Costello's men.

Finding the mole[]

After a few months, Costello realizes that there is a mole among his gang, so he orders French to collect his men's personal information, in order to pass them to Sullivan, and trace the mole. However, Billy Costigan refuses to give his information. Despite this, his identity remains covered as his file is encrypted, and Sullivan fails to find the infiltrator. Billy manages to convince Costello that even if he has not given his data, he is not the mole, and Costello trusts him.

Ambush and death[]

After acquiring the drugged goods from the construction site in Sheffield, Costello and his gang are ambushed by Sullivan and the state police forces. A shootout then ensued, and Costello's men open fire. When blocked from leaving the site by car, Mr. French backs up, to get away from the ambush, with Frank in the passenger seat. In the midst of the shootout, French is shot in the chest, and crashes in a nearby mobile office. Costello takes his chances and leaves the vehicle, and sprints to safety behind the construction site. Mr. French looses consciousness, and crashes again in another mobile office. The car is now on fire, and knowing his life is as good as over, Mr. French pulls out his revolver and fatally shoots and kills himself dead right before his car explodes into flames.

Trivia[]

He is based on Stephen Flemmi for being the boss's right hand man and possibly not being Irish American. Flemmi was the right-hand man and friend of the Irish mobster James "Whitey" Bulger, which was the basis for Frank Costello.
According to Ray Winstone, he and Jack Nicholson did not get along with each other while filming.
When Billy is in a bar, meeting Mr. French for the first time, he walks near a payphone after punching a guy at the bar and pulls his jacket down. In the next shot, his jacket is back on again.
When French smashes Costigan's arm cast, on the second attempt Costigan seems to be using his own force to smash the cast. As French loses his grip at the top of the motion, Costigan's arm moves downward with all the force it would have had had French not let go.
When French is holding the bag with the hand he places a ring very close to Costello's cheek. A second later, without him having moved, the hand is at jaw level and farther away.
His weapon of choice was a Colt Python revolver.
While running from the cops, French turns the car 90º to the left, but from a different angle it's still facing in the original direction.
When French backs up the car, just before he is shot, the driver has no beard. It's clearly a stuntman.
Before French dies, he starts to cough, and the windshield has fewer bullet holes than in the previous shot.

References[]

↑ The murder of Myles Kennefick takes place on September 19, 2006, making The Departed set in 2006. At one point in the film, during a meeting with Queenan and Dignam, Billy Costigan mentions that a year has passed, coming to 2007. In the Colin Sullivan phone the date is "Mar 16,06", or March 16, 2007 (2006, it is a plot error, as Kennefick died in September of this year). On this day the affair between the Chinese mob and Costello takes place. They pass six months, expressed by Billy, four from the Chinese deal. The events that follow take place day after day, and Arnold French's death takes place seven days after the deal (16), making it July 23, 2007.
↑ "I got kicked out, like, four months ago." Expressed by Billy Costigan to Aunt Kathy Costigan.

[1] The murder of Myles Kennefick takes place on September 19, 2006, making The Departed set in 2006. At one point in the film, during a meeting with Queenan and Dignam, Billy Costigan mentions that a year has passed, coming to 2007. In the Colin Sullivan phone the date is "Mar 16,06", or March 16, 2007 (2006, it is a plot error, as Kennefick died in September of this year). On this day the affair between the Chinese mob and Costello takes place. They pass six months, expressed by Billy, four from the Chinese deal. The events that follow take place day after day, and Arnold French's death takes place seven days after the deal (16), making it July 23, 2007.

[2] "I got kicked out, like, four months ago." Expressed by Billy Costigan to Aunt Kathy Costigan.

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