Un papillon sur l'épaule

American-born John Gearon wrote his first novel 'The Velvet Well' in 1946 before adopting the pseudonym John Flagg. More that thirty years later and eight years after the author's demise we have this version directed by Jacques Deray, best known for his films with Alain Delon. Another of Deray's regular collaborators, the brilliant Jean-Claude Carriere, has written the screenplay.

To call this a 'loose' adaptation would be an understatement and it is futile to dwell on the differences as they are considerable. It is no less effective for that and I would have to say that of this director's output, with the exception of 'Un Crime', this is the one that had me gripped from the outset.

It really belongs to the 'neo-polar' genre in which one never knows who the villains are or whom to trust. Here the man living the Kafkaesque nightmare is the Roland Feriaud of Lino Ventura. He happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time as a result of which he is severely concussed and awakes to find himself in a 'clinic' staffed by one doctor and one nurse. The doctor seems less concerned with Feriaud's health than with the whereabouts of a certain suitcase. This suitcase becomes the MacGuffin, the contents of which are never revealed but which various parties will go to any lengths to obtain, including the kidnap of Feriaud's wife.

The tempo is lento throughout and there is very little music so it takes a very special actor with enormous presence to hold our attention and here Lino Ventura fits the bill perfectly. Excellent support from Nicole Garcia, Claudine Auger and Laura Betti with a marvellous turn by Paul Crauchet whose character's surreal obsession gives the film its title.

By all accounts the novel once attracted the attention of Hollywood. Heaven only knows how it would have turned out but one thing is certain. The bizarre elements of Carriere's screenplay and the film's final scene would have been inconceivable to American film makers of that time. Vive la différence!

Let me get this straight. I'm a huge Ventura's fan. I love every single movie he's even been in. Every single movie but this one, that is. I've found very frustrating not to understand the first thing about the plot. What is this movie all about? Spies? Secret war? State secrets? Traffic? We have no clue. So you keep watching it, thinking that sooner or later you may have the key to understand why you've stayed this far. Only the key never come, giving the whole movie a sense of emptiness that I've never experiences before. So if you want to lose your time, to feel frustrated and empty, go for it. If you want a head and tail movie though, you'll have to go elsewhere, for there is no such simple thing herein.

"Un Papillon Sur L'épaule" is a quiet thriller which depicts why an honest man always gets involved in shady deals. It allows us to question whether it is due to unforeseen circumstances which force an honest man to go astray or is it something in an honest man's disposition that he cannot evade dangers. According to this film,the plight of the honest man is really strange as despite all heroic fights, he is the one who emerges as the ultimate loser. There is hardly anything in his control to change events and circumstances as he is merely a puppet as the strings are with somebody else. In this film, Jacques Deray has made an effective use of dream, hallucination and reality to portray a hapless man whose destiny is crisscrossed by these very elements. Lino Ventura gives a very restrained performance in his role of an ordinary French citizen who loses his life in a hostile Spain.Although actress Nicole Garcia has a very limited role, she manages to garner viewers' sympathy as the wife of a man who directs all possible efforts in rescuing her husband from the clutches of invisible forces.

This film starts out like a lot of espionage thrillers: an innocent man witnesses a murder and finds himself mixed up in a deadly intrigue of spies and counter-spies. A movie of this sort can easily become infuriatingly complicated or just plain silly. At worst it can be both, as for example Jacques Deray's earlier spy thriller "Avec la peau des autres", which also starred Lino Ventura.

"Un papillon sur l'épaule" works better because it never fully gives up its mystery. We know that something sinister is afoot and we can make some intelligent guesses, but the thing is never spelled out for us. Lino Ventura is like Alice (a paunchy, middle-aged Alice) who tumbles down a rabbit-hole and wakes up in a world that's not quite the same as before, where no-one believes him or can explain what's happening and where innocuous-looking strangers suddenly take on a menacing significance.

The white rabbit of this particular looking-glass world is played by Claudine Auger, a slinky spy who keeps whizzing up in a battered car to dispense gnomic advice and warnings. Paul Crauchet, who acted with Ventura nine years earlier in Melville's "L'Armée des ombres", plays a lunatic in pyjamas with an imaginary talking butterfly on his shoulder and a scarecrow in his bed.

It sounds bizarre and it is, but I liked it. Ventura, who starred in plenty of espionage thrillers in his career, is believable and sympathetic; the Spanish locations are used to great effect; and Jacques Deray's assured direction feeds the suspense and paranoia, his camera peering around corners and through doorways and windows (one murder is witnessed through revolving doors). An enjoyable thriller and a must-see for Ventura fans.

The plot outline on the IMDB page is about a "young man" ,which does not exactly describes Lino Ventura who was nearing 60 when this movie was made.

This is minor quibble:"Un papillon sur l'épaule" is by far Deray's most ambitious work.A thoroughly abstract thriller,we never know what is all about.There's a search for a mysterious small suitcase ,and the hero seems to be caught in a cobweb,like a Kafka character.The enemy remains invisible ,the screenplay always refers to "they " "them" "the others" "these people".Who are they?Why are they killing? (there are many murders in this movie)What do they want?

Actually the subject had already been treated in the past,and with better results.Henri-Georges Clouzot pulled it off brilliantly with his most underrated oeuvre "les espions" (1957,"diabolique" follow-up),and of course,we will not forget Orson Welles' "the trial" (1963).As far directing is concerned,Deray is no match for these two giants.But his attempt is commendable and will reward you more than the Delon/Belmondo cop stories he too often filmed.