Le point de mire

Pierre Boulle provided David Lean and Franklin J.Shaffner with two great stories:"bridge on the river Kwaï" (1957) and "planet of the apes " (1968)I've not read the Boulle novel which was adapted here.But I hope it's better than this listless dragging political thriller .A good cast (Annie Girardot,Jean Bouise ,Jean-Claude Brialy and the neglected Françoise Brion in a one-scene madam part) is wasted .The last sequence will remind Pakula's fans of his excellent "parallax view".But Tramont is not up to scratch.A sleeper?A sleeping pill more like!

Cast includes French stars Jacques Dutronc, Annie Girardot and Jean-Claude Brialy. Political thriller made it a candidate for US remake. Good script, good set, good acting and a nice Land Rover jeep. Unpredictable ending. Not a great flick, but comparable to most Hollywood thriller. Somewhat ahead of its time. I remember it 20 years after seeing it. What went wrong here? Films are like people. After they stop being seen, they stop existing. A candidate sleeper. Given a print in the video store circuit, I foresee a fair distribution. Someone must put his hands on rights and script.

I love this kind of political thriller, gloomy, depressing but so unusual. of course, this movie seems clumsy if you compare it with THE French political thriller, among the best, I COMME ICARE, made a couple of years later, but this one is very interesting though, thanks to the ever fantastic Annie Girardot and also the outstanding Jacques Dutronc's performance. André Cayatte could have made it. Just notice that he gave us LA RAISON D'ETAT, one year later; very close scheme.

For those who like fast moving plots and every two minutes at least three bodies, this movie (translated "Focal Point") will be a terrible disappointment. There will be three bodies for sure, but in the whole movie. It starts with a photographer, who dies – apparently accidentally - in Antwerp. His wife gets intrigued by the affair, not realizing that all here moves are closely watched by people she trusts, and even by her neighbors. Slowly but surely a plot is unveiled, that has lots of similarities with Lee Harvey Oswald's tragic adventure, if Arlen Spector will forgive me not to believe in magic... It's a so-so movie, very French, very 1970's, that seems sponsored by Gitanes cigarettes. The music alternates all the time, now you hear cheerful accordion, then it are somber, menacing notes. During the latter, often close ups of a black American car is personifying that looming menace, moving in for the final kill as a wolf pack.

Singer Jacques Dutronc ("worldfamous in France" with songs like "Il est cinq heures, Paris s'éveille" plays one of the conspirators, but that's rather PR than a real bonus. Serge Gainsbourg too did some similar stints, that must have been fun for his fans, but didn't really lifted those movies to a higher echelon. I'd rate Point de mire 6,5/10, it's not terribly bad, but it is not super either. If you like this kind of "lone nut" set ups, you'd better go for "I...comme Icare" with Yves Montand.