Espion, lève-toi

Sebastien Grenier is a successful French businessman, who has been living in Switserland for several years. He's married to a German professor of literature. But Grenier has a secret: he used to be a field agent for the French secret service SDECE. However, as the years went by, he certainly don't expect a wake up call any longer. He couldn't have been more wrong… Similarly as with CIA-agents, once SDECE, always SDECE… He's played by a somewhat grumpy, tired looking Lino Ventura.

It all starts with a RAF style execution of a passenger in a tramway by a leftist terrorist group. From then on, Grenier gets caught in a whirlwind of events, leading to several other violent deaths. The "where's" and "when's" of these events are announced in a cool voice by a narrator. (Several other spy movies use a similar semi-documentary approach, others use a "telex"-message for the same purpose). The first victim is Henri Marchand, another SDECE-agent, played by Bernard Fresson. Many Americans will remember him as the French commissaire Barthélémy in French Connection II, with his funny clashes with "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hacklman.

Grenier soon realizes that he might not live very long anymore. But who is the spider in the deadly web around him ? Is it the mysterious and cold "Richard", played by Bruno Cremer ?(of "Maigret"-fame). Or is it Jean-Paul Chance, a slick Swiss high official from the Justice Department, who seems to be extremely well informed by whatever Grenier is doing. (Chance is played by Michel Piccoli, who clearly enjoys irritating the Grenier-character). Who's systematically knocking out several pawns on the international chess game, and why ? In the end, the French former agent will manage to shed some light into some dark corners. What he doesn't realize is that the gun, pointed at his back is hidden in another shadowy corner. Or is he ?

Not a bad movie, but by far not as good as "Le silencieux" (1973, also with Ventura. Maybe the movie doesn't really manages to create a real mysterious atmosphere of clear and present danger, as for example "La septième cible" manages to do in a better way. The way the secret agents communicate with each other also has something laughable, it all looks so terribly boyscoutish. It also made me seasick to see how sparkless the Grenier-Gretz "couple" apparently had become. They were clearly at the brink of a total burn out, before death took its toll… In fact, the whole movie has something extremely depressing: the tired looks of Grenier, his moody interactions with his business collaborator, his secretary and his wife, and every one involved in the story. The soundtrack consists of a sober, efficient but also somewhat depressing march, yet another Morricone creation. Even the landscapes of Switserland surely wouldn't be the ones I would use to attract more tourists

I am still amazed by the resemblance between this movie and another one starring Lino Ventura, and also a French movie full of mystery and disturbing plot, another movie where the technicians and actors did not know the whereabouts of the plot: UN PAPILLON SUR L'EPAULE. Of course the story is not the same, here Ventura plays a secret agent working for the French SDECE, the former DGSE - French CIA, MI6 or Mossad, in charge of the protection of outside French interests in the world. It is hard to follow, disturbing I repeat, and the ending is more or less the same - I would say the very same for the Lino Ventura's character. Another element in common with UN PAPILLON SUR L'EPAULE. You can also think about LA SEPTIEME CIBLE or LE SILENCIEUX, also with Ventura, as a tracked down man. Typical Yves Boisset's topic, government maneuvering, fiddling, where the human life is easily worthless. Boisset's favourite message. Reason of state among everything and every one. I personally met Marc Mazza once and shaked his hand; he was my father's boss' son. Father Mazza was a big executive in an Italian tyre factory, and my father a truck driver delivering tyres in retailor's warehouses.

... I would have wanted to know exactly what was the spying object of all those characters?...Total mystery, no one mentions anything about that. About the music, Morricone is the greatest no doubt about it but, the music for this one, which I like it very much, and I knew it before watching the film from an old audio-cassette, is more suitable for a war movie, I see already the German tanks advancing in formation on that... Lino Ventura, which I like very much, unfortunately, is the same Lino Ventura, he's playing himself. I like more chameleons, totally versatile actors (example Gary Oldman), which in every role they are different, you don't even recognize them. Michel Piccoli, Bruno Cremer, Heinz Bennent and Bernard Fresson are all better than Ventura in smaller roles. Very impressive Marc Mazza, the bad guy (also a very good bad guy in the masterpiece directed by René Clément Rider on the Rain/Le passager de la pluie made in 1970).

For me a recent discovery, this makes a great movie! - Okay, I understand that anyone who wants to understand a movie, and waits for the code to be implemented, this might be a disappointment. Though here we have great actors, especially Piccoli and Ventura, a tight and strict storyboard / script; and a good helping of suspense.

In principle we see a movie clipped together from a large bunch of consecutive moments in time (and location), inserted like subtitles, with a precision of minutes. Like flashlights on the developments. Good cinematography, no excess of brutality nor effects. Just a nice, though somewhat extraordinary, traditional movie.

I do wonder if I could really understand the plot, even if I watched this movie a dozen times. Though that doesn't make the movie seriously worse, because the main line of action is always clear. That is, what is happening. Unclear remains, who is on which side, and how the whole matter got started.

Watch it, if you can!

Yves Boisset has always been a politically committed director,but his stories are always linear and accessible:hence their efficiency,even if people complain about their manicheism or naiveté.One cannot deny their impact on the audience when it comes to depicting the Algerian war (in RAS) or racism (in Dupont Lajoie,probably his best effort).

"Espion lève -toi" moves in another direction ;relatively speaking it shows the influence of Pakula and "the parallax view".A hero (Ventura)fighting against something he does not really understand,estranged from his compatriots in Zurich ,Switzerland,the symbol of the power of money.Around him everybody's dying,even his lover ,a German professor is threatened ,and maybe she's not the woman he thinks she is (hints at Baader's gang and terrorism).When Ventura strikes back,not only it's too late but it may also be absurd and pointless:he 's nothing but a puppet on a string like laurence Harvey in "Mandchourian candidate" .

This movie is unique in Boisset's career:it was initially to be directed by Zulawski,and the snub critics used to say what a better movie it would have been !It's not sure :Zulawski's works are often pretentious and -in France,abroad they do not seem to bother- overrated ("posession" or "l'important c'est d'aimer")and Boisset's simplicity and academic but efficient style fit the screenplay like a glove.Unlike Frankenheimer's and Pakula 's works I Mention above,"Espion lève- toi" is no masterpiece but it should appeal to people who like this genre.

Yves Boisset got lost after this effort:he tackled pure thriller with "le prix du danger" "canicule "or "bleu comme l'enfer",and deprived of his political or social comments he was nothing but another director