Der Schock

Enjoyable, but by no means a great crime film starring Alain Delon and Catherine Deneuve. The script is extremely cliched, so it is left to the actors to pull this one off. And to a certain extent they deliver.

The direction is unimaginative, but the production design is cool mostly in the form of locations. I'm not sure whether the version I saw was uncut, but doubt it would have made much difference.

After his last contract, the hit-man Martin "Christian" Terrier (Alain Delon) tells his only friend Michel (Etienne Chicot) that he will retire; however Michel advises that the Organization will never let him go. Christian visits his boss Cox (François Perrot) to receive the payment for his last work and to inform his decision but Cox does not admit that he quits the Organization.

Christian visits the manager of his money, Jeanne Faulques (Stéphane Audran), and he learns that she had invested part of his money in a turkey farm in the countryside. He drives to the place to spend a couple of days and has a love affair with Claire (Catherine Deneuve), who runs the farm with her husband Félix (Philippe Léotard) and has a loveless marriage. Out of the blue, criminals arrive at the farm and Félix is murdered. Christian and Claire kill the killers and they head to Paris to travel abroad. However, Christian discovers that Jeanne is dead and his money was stolen from the bank safe. Then, Christian and Claire are abducted by the men of Cox that wants Christian to have his last contract. In return, he would return his money plus the payment of his fees. Can Christian trust in Cox?

"Le Choc" is an entertaining and forgettable action thriller with romance with Alain Delon and Catherine Deneuve. The story has many clichés and Alain Delon performs a contradictory character, a hired cold blood hit-man that falls in love with a woman on the same day he has met her. The final twist is totally predictable and disappointing. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Choque" ("The Shock")

As an Alain Delon vehicle, "Le Choc" is a shockingly (pun intended) banal programmer, occasionally livened up by the well-executed moments of violence (and they are plenty: fork through the palm, knife through the head, fireplace poker through the stomach, etc.). As one of the very few Delon-Deneuve pairings, it's nothing much: the only surprising thing about their love scene is how early into the film it comes. Delon has played this kind of role a million times before, but he does give a convincing performance, and easily (at least on this occasion) outclasses Deneuve. They both go for a rather "inexpressive" style of acting, but you can read a lot more on his face that you can on hers. For those who might care, he also has a full-frontal nude scene in this film BUT it's shot from a long distance and he's behind a glass wall. (**)

I loved the Jean Patrick Manchette's novel from which this one is inspired; only vaguely inspired. The basic topic can be similar, as many other films with this scheme, and the overall result is a rather bearable movie. But it remains as close to the novel as New York is to Paris. The book is a pure jewel which the atmosphere and spirit is totally absent here. It is less obvious with another Manchette's book adaptation: TROIS HOMMES A ABATTRE, from Le Petit Bleu de la Côte Ouest, Manchette's book. Not very faithful either, but the spirit closer to the novel than this one I comment today. There are some light hearted, minded elements that don't help much to make this feature worth watching for a crime film buff as I am. Speaking of Manchette, there was NADA adaptation by Claude Chabrol, ten years earlier, very faithful concerning the scenes and story in general, but slightly different if you consider the meaning, the message, political message. Manchette's novel deserved far far better than this one; it is even ridiculous.