El silencioso

I decided to see 'Le Silencieux' especially for Lino Ventura, an actor whom I greatly admired in the 60s and 70s. Specializing in 'rough' characters from one side or the other of the law, Ventura played in feature films. action - detectives and spy - of which few have passed the Iron Curtain, the other side of which we are in those years. So I have quite a lot of his films from that period to be recovered through watching, including this film made in 1973 and directed by Claude Pinoteau, a director whom I know nothing about, who was at the time his first feature film. I have nothing to regret, because 'Le Silencieux' is a well-written film, and Ventura's acting performance lives up to expectations.

Viewers will find themselves immersed in a spy film, but it is not an action movie like the James Bond series (which had already recorded a decade of success at the time) but rather a psychological film. The main hero played by Lino Ventura, a French scientist kidnapped 16 years earlier by the Soviets and recovered by the British intelligence, could very well be mistaken for a hero of John Le Carre's novels, a hero inadvertently involved in the secret wars, who's life is stolen and who finds himself obliged to act in the service of causes in which he does not believe. His attempt to recover his life or even to reconcile himself with his own conscience is similar to the dilemmas of heroes of the spy films of the last part of the career of Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, quoted quite copiously in this film, especially in the natural scenery backgrounds and the use of music.

Today's viewer has plenty of reasons to enjoy this movie, apart from Ventura's excellent acting game. The spectacular scenes are not lacking but the attention is drawn to the hero's fate and turmoil. The 1970s France and Switzerland are as beautiful as today, minus the crowds on the roads at a time when there were probably 1% of today's cars. The spy movie is a genre in which a movie can become very quickly out of date, especially if it focuses on the volatile political issues in contemporary history where enemies and friendships disappear and appear quickly.'Le Silencieux' avoids this trap by focusing on the fate of the main hero, and thus manages to maintain interest despite the passage of time.

Lino Ventura is a good actor and his gives the pace to this somewhat silly adaptation by Jean-Loup Dabadie of the novel of Francis Ryck. Claude Pinoteau made here his fist movie as a director but he had still to learn. The action scenes are not looking real. The conflict of a spy who does not want to be found by the KGB but at the other hand is kept in custody by MI5 is not handled carefully. You see by teleprinter that the Russians want to kill him but how can they find him so easily? The end of the movie is good and leaves us a surprise. For the new generation who did not know the cold war, this movie will lack authenticity but who knows how many people were in this situation: kept between two fires. MI5 will not say anything once Tibère goes to his beloved France. In France he cannot trust anyone but his brief encounters with some relatives are strange and confuse. Lea Massari steals the end of the movie with her beautiful face looking at the future, because Tibère starts a new life.

This is probably Claude Pinoteau's most interesting work,even if he is known in his native France for his abysmal "la boum" which made Sophie Marceau a star.

A French scientist ,who was forced to work for the Russians is arrested in England and they ask him to denounce English spies working for the KGB.He knows when he is released that his days are numbered.Lino Ventura gives a restrained effective performance and he gets good support from Suzanne Flon whose part is quite credible .On the other hand ,Lea Massari 's character is almost completely pointless.

Pinoteau was strongly influenced by Hitchcock whose "torn curtain" and above all "the man who knew too much (1956) come to mind.The last sequence ( the concert) directly comes from the latter.

Like in all the good spy thrillers (Ritt's "the man who came from the cold" or Clouzot's "les espions" ) the villains are everywhere,not only in Russia.

Le silencieux can compete as one of the most undervalued movie ever. I saw it when it went out, and many times since. It might not be as things really were (they were probably worse), but it remains a BGS (Bloody Good Story). Ventura, like in most of his films, is impressive. Lea Massari character is not pointless: she is the lost charm, the lost life, the unattainable past (as unattainable as she was in Deville's "La femme en bleu"): she remains a mystery, and it is her function. Without her, the main character would be without nostalgia. Of course, there is the strange dusty colour of French movies of the 70s, not too pleasant. And the set designer of the MI5 office ought to be shot. But apart that, the movie remains tightly knit, in truth one of the best spy thrillers of the 70s.