Trois huit

This is a social film, but especially a bully scheme film, one of the most powerful ever, but not the most famous. Yes, this Philippe Le Guay's film is unfortunately not widely known. Such a shame. I discovered Marc Barbé. And Gerald Laroche too, though I saw it in 1997 for J'IRAI AU PARADIS CAR L'ENFER EST ICI. Here, he is at his right place, I would have never imagined him for the Marc Barbé's role. But, believe me, this topic is not at all exaggerated. Such guys exist, such men who take a sadistic pleasure to bully the others. But I admit it is more often in military camps or schools, than in factories or companies; maybe because this kind of situation can not exist where men and woman are melt. Never. Only when there are only men. However, this film is a fantastic character study. Marc Barbé's best performance, most convincing. Despite he is a pure villain, he remains poignant.

Some of the dedicated viewers have remarked that French films set in North France tend to be full of misery, hopelessness, sorrow etc. On a close observation it might appear to be true. For example-ça commence aujourd'hui by Bertrand Tavernier.But overall this might turn out to be a debatable topic.However, in Philippe Le Guay's "Trois Huit" aka "Night Shift" there are certain acute observations on human behavior. First of all it can be noted that all along the victim of the film has been encouraging his aggressor. This is shown by his proximity with the aggressor. In a way as he had a liking for his aggressor, he was bearing all ill treatment with the hope that by dint of some miracle his aggressor would leave him alone. Another reason which supports this supposition is the fact that why was the victim enduring all the misery heaped on him ? Why did he not report it to the concerned authorities ? The weak point of the film is the uneven emotional bonding of the victim with his wife and his young kid. In normal circumstance people talk to their family members for solution to a problem. However the victim did not bother to take that step. Watch this film for the brutal performance of Marc Barbe as the bully.

In "Trois huit," wildly implausible set-ups lurch clumsily into individual scenes of significant power and thought, causing much head scratching and hand wringing during its running time, but after you think about it for a while it begins to add up. It's a film that you only really appreciate in retrospect. The plot is a frustration of pure contrivance, but it's worth sifting through for what's in between the lines, a seasoned exploration of the complicated psychological relationship between a bully and his victim.

It isn't often that strong direction and acting can redeem a truly problematic script, but such is the case here. I can't honestly recommend it to casual fans of psychological thrillers, but to people in search of something slightly different and quite a bit more thoughtful than usual American fare, it's a fine little time.

This is kind of a new genre as thrillers are usually felt by the audience to be the product of an overconsumption of addictive, non legal products. Here we have a real situation (in a factory), real personalities (the bad guy is not so bad, a.s.o.), and a very good, rising tension.

A cross between "la meilleure façon de marcher" and " ladri di biciclette"?Perhaps so..

In 1976,Claude Miller made "la meilleure façon de marcher" ,his best movie,where he pitted a romantic shy young man (Patrick Bouchitey)against a strong vulgar macho (the late Patrick Deweare) in the "no exit" of a holiday camp;Here ,Le Guay shows two men in an unusual environment:movies which take place in a factory are very rare.A worker,a loudmouth,treats one of his colleagues as a punching ball when he discovers he's not fond of putting pictures of naked women on the door of his locker :blowing hot and cold,sometimes he bullies and humiliates him,and sometimes he pretends to be his pal.LIttle by little ,the victim ,who is a "normal" human being,begins to think he's "different" and does not know where he stands anymore.But we soon discover that the "villain" is not exactly the self-confident brute he seems to be.The tension between the two men rises ,since...

his son ,after an incident after a basketball game ,finds out what happens to his father:he feels humiliated,and the father does not want to explain anything to him(the connection with "ladri di biciclette"). And the adolescent begins to grow away from him,fascinated by this he-man,who does body building....

"Trois huit" is a very interesting French film.It could have been an inane slapstick comedy ,it's a subtle intimate drama which I recommend.