La Balance - Der Verrat

Watched this last night - a belting French Cops and Robbers drama set among the Paris version of the flying squad. It opens with their main informant being murdered and they need replacement to get Mr Big.

They lean on a Dede (Philippe Léotard) a small time crook and pimp and his whore/girlfriend(Nathalie Baye) to persuade them to snitch on Messina.

They use threats,beatings - in fact anything to get a result. The cops are played in a very unsympathetic light - the're really thugs who bend the law to suit their ends.

Interestingly both Dede and Nicole are are much more attractive characters - he's her pimp but he loves her as she loves him. You really care about them as they are exploited by the cops who don't care what happens to them as long as they get their villian. There are car chases and shoot-outs aplenty but its the central relationship that lifts this above your average cop movie.

All the leads are well played and you hope things will work out for Dede and Nicloe but you know life isn't like that.

Not an obvious ending either and directed with an intesity by Bob Swaim who films it almost as a documentry so real is the gritty feel of the Parisian undwerworld.

Highly reccomended.

What a nifty top of the B-film heap is this gritty Paris film, complete with love stories going bad, habits going strong, and cars going fast. Leotard has one of the great faces in the world and Nathalie Baye (in this outing new to me on release date) is just spectacularly vulnerable and perhaps a bit duplicitous. I would definitely make this part of my French film library. The film's co-director is from Evanston, Illinois! Bob Swaim has written films and directed them, mostly in France, and obviously learned his B-films on Saturdays with the rest of us and his France by living in it for a long time.

Somewhat in the tradition of literary realism, this is a police story with much drama and a hint of tragedy. When the determined police officer Palouzi (Berry)decides to get the mob boss in his district by replacing a blown up informer, his choice is a hooker, Nicole (N. Baye) and her pimp, Dédé (P. Léotard). Both are rather humane, likable and loyal to each other. Perhaps a bit of a cliché in the character Nicole. Palouzi will put ruthless pressure on them to get their reluctant collaboration. Given this scenario, things will be necessarily difficult for them. Very good performances of Berry, Baye and Léotard, and some violence scenes well staged and played. Interesting denouement with somewhat ambiguous (to me) ending. The character of the efficient, driven and street-wise officer Palouzi has interest and psychological depth. Maybe he will be devious and tough to make Nicole and Dédé to play his game, but also maybe he will try to keep them out of harm's way, if possible. In sum, no clear-cut heroes and villains, good story and script, good actors, intense action, credible ambiance, with some interesting characters.

I can't believe that this movie has no comments and hardly any votes. It's a tough 1982 thriller set in Paris' Algerian sector. A specialist Police Unit pressurise a pimp and his hooker into becoming informants to enable them to bring down a local gangster. Although directed by an American (spot the U.S. film posters at the Police Station), the film is full of French style. The clothes, the food, the shades... The pacing is fast, the plot is good and the characters are fascinating. Baye is incredibly sexy as the 'tart with a heart' and Leotard looks suitably seedy as the pimp in love with her. It's a strange relationship, letting your lover have sex with strangers in order to put money in the joint account! I also like the way that the cops, who arrest and harass hookers, are shown to be willing to use their services on lonely nights. Pace, excitement, black humour and romance. What more can one ask from a thriller? 8/10

Maybe I was a bit young (15 I think) when I first saw this, in a french cinema without subtitles so I didn't even understand that much - but it left a strong impression and when I rewatched it a few years later with a more critical eye, it was still a very strong movie. There are more violent thrillers out there, but in the case of "La Balance", it's unsettling because you care for those people. I guess it's got something to do with the cast, it's a bunch of character faces you won't forget, especially Philippe Léotard. So, in contrast to many other thrillers, the violence in "La Balance" is never fun to watch - those are scenes where you'd like to close your eyes (which is the best way to portrait violence, in my opinion, if you don't happen to make an action comedy). Highly recommended!