Dernier domicile connu

This might be my Jose Giovanni favorite.His third movie,it is perhaps his most endearing one.A really unusual thriller,which uses urban landscapes with great skill.We often seem to be lost in an ocean of windows ,which makes sense,because the plot is actually a search.

Two cops,a man and a woman, (Ventura and Jobert)are looking for a witness for the prosecution .That man seems to have disappeared.So their investigation looks like a treasure hunt.They meet a lot of people,some of whom have known the mysterious guy.They learn that he is a widower living with his daughter.The girl herself is an enigma,being described as a fairy tale princess by some (Paul Crauchet) or a vicious Lolita (the woman with the cat).The woman cop even dreams of them,and that sequence is really excellent,as they seem more and more to be a mirage.

There is something of John Huston in the conclusion of "dernier domicile connu" (last known address).It deals with cowardice ,sadness and despair,one of the harshest endings Giovanni ever filmed.Even if they succeeded in their mission,the two cops realize that they have been manipulated and that they have completely destroyed two human beings' happiness.

Marlène Jobert has perhaps never been better than here.Once a enthusiastic rookie ,her despair is intense when the movie ends.Ventura portrays a fallen cop from the beginning: He was relegated to a local police station after having arrested a drunken rich kid.Disillusioned ,but still believing in what he's doing,he will become a broken man as the last lines read:life is lost when you did not live your life as you would have liked to.

Good directing,fine acting,and as usual ,wonderful score by François de Roubaix.

Very good, solid French thriller from Director, Jose Giovanni, who also wrote the script. Police are supposed to be searching for key witness in an important trial and give the task to an out of favour cop, known for a tendency to get the job done by whatever means. The marvellous, Lino Ventura is that cop and almost as an aside he's given a rookie assistant played by Marlene Jobert. It is an early film for her but she had already been in Louis Malle's, Thief of Paris and Godard's, Masculin Feminin! Both are great in this and just as well because they are the film as we follow them around the outskirts of Paris, following clue by clue. Much of the film is clearly shot in the streets and is really well done. Being French there is always time to stop off in a cafe or bistro and these slower scenes are also very well done. This doesn't sound particularly thrilling but it is faultlessly put together and never lets up as we race from corner to corner of those charming Parisian streets.

Inspector Marceau Leonetti (Lino Ventura) gets demoted after arresting a young kid whose father has connections. He is assigned to a small town where the biggest crime is helping a kid locate his stolen pigeons and, later, working alongside newbie Jeanne Dumas (Marlène Jobert) to bust perverts in movie theaters. Their careers take an upswing when, unbeknown to Leonetti, his former boss assigns him the futile task of finding a witness in 8 days before a major murder trial. What his superiors didn't count on was Leonetti's tenacity in finding this uncooperative witness and the fact that the accused also has some men out with the same task. This is the third film from director José Giovanni (writer of THE SICILIAN CLAN) and it proves to be a pretty grim affair. There is a lot of commentary on the rat (or should I say ant) race as Leonetti is just a cog in the wheel of justice (at one point Jeanne event comments on his unending searching, asking if he is a robot). Audiences will probably feel the most connection with Jobert's character as she is tackling the assignment with a fresh belief in "the system." Ventura is awesome in the lead role of the seen-it-all vet and he has a great fight scene toward the end. You'll probably see the end coming, but it still has quite an impact thanks to a matter-of-fact presentation by Giovanni.

In a nutshell, I'd call this police drama 'pretty good'. But not nearly as excellent as some reviewers have made it out to be. On the plus side are the standout performances of tough cop Lino Ventura and his rookie assistant, the enchanting Marlène Jobert.

In the early 1970s Jobert was probably France's most in-demand actress, so lovely and so endearing that it was hard not to fall in love with her. I succombed immediately on seeing her irresistible performance in René Clément's classic Rider on the Rain, where she is perfectly paired with the redoubtable Charles Bronson.

Also on the plus side are many gorgeous glimpses of Paris, by day and by night. On the minus side though, is the contrived drama of the movie. Like many French police films of the period, it tries too hard to be more than a police story. It strives to be a meaningful essay on modern society, morality and lost illusions.

Still, it's pretty good, and if you're a fan of directors like Sidney Lumet, Arthur Penn and Elia Kazan, you'll probably find a great deal to like in Dernier domicile connu.

But if your taste runs more toward Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang, you can skip this one and go directly to Rider on the Rain.

An undercover policeman goes trough Paris to find a man whose testimony is the pivotal point to convict a murderer. Good action film, with very good use of editing and music to create tension, however the acting and plot seem to make it a middle ground affair.