Noyade interdite

Although I had originally intended to tape something else entirely off the TV i.e. the nunspoitation flick, LA BADESSA DI CASTRO (1974), this latter-day French thriller served as a welcome tribute to the passing of its amiable leading man Philippe Noiret. He plays a seemingly passive Police Inspector who finds himself investigating (with his much more fastidious partner Guy Marchand in tow) a series of baffling murders in a quiet seaside town. The distinguished cast - Stefania Sandrelli, Laura Betti, Andrea Ferreol, Suzanne Flon - ensures that there is never a lack of possible suspects and red herrings, although it is the frequently naked younger generation of starlets - particularly Elisabeth Bourgine, Anne Roussel and Marie Trintignant - who leave the greater impression. The eventual culprits are a genuine surprise and their tragic fate prefigures THELMA AND LOUISE (1991) by several years.

Philippe Noiret is splendid as inspector Molinat in this typical French thriller. Marie (Anne Roussel) and Leroyer (Guy Marchand) give a good response to the strong one-liners of inspector Molinat. But it is based on the novel "Widow's Walk" by the American Andrew Coburn. The director and script-writer Granier-Deferre sucked all the suspense of this book by putting it into masterly dialogues.

The detective story is dull,inconsistent and the characters (with the exception of Laura Betti's who is given the opportunity to show her motherly love) are pure cardboard.There are lesbian undertones but they are not really exploited.Apart from this ,there is the peeping tom ,secretly imploring the sunbathing lady to turn over,the loony old woman (the admirable Suzanne Flon,wasted one more time) picking up shells on the beach and waiting for the return of her drowned child .This waiting and the final remark about the other cop (Guy Marchand) are the only good ideas of a poor screenplay.

Pierre Granier-Deferre seems ill-at-ease and he tries to imitate Jean -Pierre Mocky (the dead bodies are piled up but nobody seems to care that much).He was primarily a storyteller who needed strong scripts ("Une Etrange Affaire " "Le Chat" ).The two dissimilar cops characters are commonplace .Guy Marchand shows more subtlety than his co-star Philippe Noiret.