Patrick Dewaere’s penultimate film; sadly unworthy of his great talent.* It sounds okay, a French take on ‘70s conspiracy thrillers, not political/military conflict & subterfuge, but focusing on International Business practices and near-sighted Investigative Journalism. Dewaere’s steady/determined reporter unaware his latest exposé of a major figure in French business, culture & politics used him (and his publication) as part of a plan to make the man's murder look like suicide. But once Dewaere starts investigating the suicide, he puts himself and his family in jeopardy. If only we weren’t under the dependably mediocre hand of writer/director Henri Verneuil, here surpassing himself with some of the dullest exposition of his career. And the film’s all exposition, the dramatic underpinnings facile/suspense-free. Talk,, Talk,Talk: all in medium shot. Four short, carelessly staged bits of action in a two hour film while Mel Ferrer’s conglomerate mogul squeezes competitive companies into his orbit and secretly sends out agents to keep Dewaere from finding a folder of evidence proving his story before attempting to kill him. There's even a trick populist ending that's pure Frank Capracorn. Jeanne Moreau shows up briefly as the suicide's widow to claim she got married in 1941 (she’d have been 13), while Verneuil calls in other big names for near cameos to bulk up his cast and make the film seem important. And Philippe Sarde's four piano score? A Verneuil stunt.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: What was lost in Dewaere’s early death at 35 can be well judged by watching the raucous soccer comedy of COUP DE TÊTE/’79 and the family drama UN MAUVAIS FILS/’80. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2023/03/coup-de-tete-hothead-1979.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2023/11/un-mauvais-fils-bad-son-1980.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Stateside, Dewaere still best known by two early films teaming him with Gérard Depardieu, acclaimed in their day, they’ve aged as poorly as M. Depardieu.
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