Der siebte Geschworene

Bernard Blier is proving on this movie that he was not just a comic actor, but a great actor, at the service of a very fine director, George Lautner who had a great carrer (it was his 6th movie). The scenario describes how a society can be totally absurd, and how to turn justice in a very bizarre frame.

I wonder why Lautner got lost in mediocrities all along his long and lucrative career.Dozens of junk movies like"la grande sauterelle" "quelques messieurs trop tranquilles" or "flic ou voyou"...why did he bother with such things when he had a brilliant potential that explodes here?

"Le septième juré" is a psychological thriller of the first order,that actually belongs to the fifties,when the overrated "new wave" had not happened.Blending Duvivier's pessimism with Clouzot's misanthropy, and beating André Cayatte at his own game (justice and trials),it stands as Lautner's finest achievement.

Bernard Blier,excellent as ever,portrays a notable who strangles a semi-whore.Probably because of a sexual frustration.His wife(an excellent Danielle Delorme) is probably a frigid bourgeois woman.The plot thickens when Blier is asked to be a juror when a wrong man is arrested and tried for HIS crime.Then begins a suspenseful and rich story,in which looks tell more than words (the juror and the accused),in which a whole town is involved with its narrow-minded petits bourgeois,its holier-than-thou spinsters,its rotten justice.

And that's not all!In the very last minutes,comes a final revelation that will leave you on the edge of your seat.And logical,at that,because it thoroughly explains Blier's behavior.The black and white cinematography is stunning,and the ambulance light in the final shots mesmerizing.

Excellent film-maker André Cayatte is not the only one to take a swipe at the French judicial system and I consider this film of Georges Lautner to be the equal of Cayatte's 'Justice est faite' and 'Les Bonnes Causes' of Christian-Jaque.

Furthermore, it is arguably Lautner's finest film(sincere apologies to devotees of 'Les Tontons Flingueurs')

Francis Didelot had a short career as a lawyer and being descended on his mother's side from Edgar Allan Poe(!) he seemed fated to become a writer of detective fiction. He had already shown his unique imagination in 'Le Monde Tremblera', filmed by Richard Pottier in 1939 but 'The Seventh Juror' is generally regarded as his greatest.

This tale concerns Gregoire Duval who has committed a murder in a moment of madness and is fated to be a member of the jury at the trial of a man wrongly accused of the murder. What is really on trial here is human nature with its prejudice, hypocrisy, double standards and the overriding desire to maintain the status quo.

Even though Gregoire confesses to his wife and the investigating police officer, they will go to any lengths to conceal his guilt so as to save face and reputation.

Jacques Robert's excellent adaptation presents us with a gallery of wonderfully drawn characters superbly played by all. Daniele Delorme is mesmerising as Madame Duval whilst Albert Remy is smugness personified as the detective. The voice of morality crying in the wilderness is that of Maurice Biraud as a veterinarian. No one plays Everyman as well as Bernard Blier whose psychological penetration as Duval is aided by the device of the 'interior monologue'. His performance is stupendous.

Lautner has again used his favoured cinematographer Maurice Fellous to great effect and there is a good score by Jean Yatove with excellent use made of Vivaldi in the opening sequences.

There are films that slowly insinuate themselves but this one grabs you from the outset and never relaxes its grip.

This is superlative film-making and fully deserves dix sur dix.

Sometimes ago, I read the comments on Le 7ème Juré, which opened my interest to have a look on it. Though Bernard Blier has never been someone I liked very much, perhaps only for his cold demeanor...

Possibly not explainable, or just because occasionally you like someone you don't know, and you have no apparent sympathy for another one... it just goes by feeling.

I have still no "ellective affinities" with BB (not Brigitte Bardot, don't get me wrong! :) but his fine performance reminds me his other movies in which he plays. Amici miei (Mario Monicelli 1975) is one example that comes to my mind... (much more enjoyable, only because it's a kind of comedy)

My apologizes to Blier : he's pretty good ! Once more !

They are pretty good, too, in that small town, with the conspiracy of silence, and indulgence for the good society. What can be said, what should not... an so forth!

Lautner is also not known to me to make very funny nor good films, but mildly diverting ones. Sorry for his fan! Now, in that one, possibly his cinematographic achievement, he demonstrates an accurate vision of human society.

And as said by another comment I wonder why he didn't use this creative force to make more ones like Le 7ème Juré.

For me, it is not possible to like this movie: it is too true, to well describing how it goes and functions everywhere... But it's an excellent one!

Critical, cynical, clinical and desperate : great drama/thriller

One may, like me, not like it but still appreciate it, as I did : great cinema !

M.Duval (Blier), bored and out walking, comes upon Catherine, a beauty sunbathing topless. He tries to kiss her and when she resists and screams, strangles her. He feels no great remorse or pangs of conscience, but when he finds himself on the jury at the trial of her main lover (she had several) does all he can to to get the wrongly-accused man acquitted. To say more would spoil your enjoyment. suffice to say the film is thoroughly gripping, and the ending terrific.

Pathe have been issuing DVDs of restored, relatively rare French films like this one. The prints are excellent and have English subtitles: I wish Gaumont would follow suit, as there are so many neglected works from the 50s and 60s by the likes of Cayatte and Hossein, brushed aside by the New Wavers like the abysmal Jean-Luc. "Juror" could have been made by the more prestigious Clouzot or Chabrol, as it shares their disgust at the prejudice and self- protection of the provincial petit bourgeoisie, Duval's wife being a prime example (no wonder he's so frustrated.)

I've seen three Lautner films restored by Pathe, and this is easily the best (probably his masterpiece, but I haven't seen all of his work.) It's a pity he mostly made silly romps with insufferably smug stars like Belmondo and Meurisse, where nothing's at stake. All that prevents me giving this film 10 is that after Duval met the prosecuting counsel in a shop pre-trial and said he believed the accused innocent, said counsel would surely have rejected Duval as a juror: that scene was a mistake.

As an outsider it was fascinating to see how the French legal system works. The juror basically conducted the defence (the defence counsel hardly said a word!) Duval constantly interrupted proceedings to ask questions. He grilled witnesses, called for one to be recalled, argued with the prosecutor and suggested a reconstruction at the crime scene. None of this would be possible in the adversarial system we have in the UK and Us: the French system, which seems focused on trying to find the truth, seems superior.