Police Python 357

Like his elder brothers, Claude Sautet and Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Corneau began to cut his teeth in French cinema with a series of fine thrillers: "la Menace" (1977) and "Série Noire" (1979) among others. "Police Python 357" is a good example of how Corneau conceived and shot his works at this time of his career. They had a splendid cinematography, painstaking screenplays and a sophisticated directing elaborated for efficiency's sake.

The police superintendent Ferrot (Yves Montand) is a cop with unconventional methods who usually works all alone. He makes the acquaintance of a young woman Sylvia Léopardi (Stefania Sandrelli) and becomes her lover while ignoring that she has another lover: his superior Ganay (François Périer). When the latter learns it, he kills her in a fit of anger. Ferrot has to investigate the murder and all the clues are inexorably against him...

One could deem that this kind of far-fetched story isn't exempt from glitches and sometimes, one can see right through it but Corneau's pedantic directorial style helps to conjure up a stifling, dusky atmosphere. The first part of the film before the night of the murder might seem uninteresting and however, it is crucial for what will follow this key-moment. Corneau falls back on a sober treatment with rather sparse moments and short appearances by secondary, minor characters whom the viewer will see again during the investigation. In spite of drawbacks, Corneau and his scenarist Daniel Boulanger penned a deft story. Ménard (Mathieu Carrière) who sometimes expresses his surprise because Ferrot keeps a relatively low profile during the investigation. But his superior knows that he usually works alone. Actually, Ferrot has to find solid tricks to muddy the waters and so to exonerate himself. Eventually, the chief idea of the film concerns Ferrot himself. He's a cop who bit by bit loses his identity and finds himself in the heart of a terrible depersonalization. It is epitomized by the moment when he throws himself acid on his face so that witnesses won't recognize him when he is brought face to face with them.

The backdrop of this thriller, Orléans is efficiently enhanced by Corneau's camera and helps to inspire this eerie thriller its pernicious charm.

Finally a film that will have you gripped to your seat till the end, and yet which is neither melodramatic nor manipulative. Great cinematography and music and of course, the cast, let alone a tight plot make this film a must-see. From the always reborn love triangle, the story develops with the right timing, faster than your average French film, and yet without anything of the Hollywood clichés that usually ruin everything. Signoret is lovable as the handicapped wife who nevertheless seems to always know everything. "dbdumonteil" on IMDb is right on track about the depersonalisation, thus adding another layer of interpretation to an already engrossing flick. I agree with "Olof" reviewer on Amazon that "Alain Corneau didn't exploit Stefania Sandrelli's scene stealing abilities", thou.

I am still wondering why Inspector Ménard does... what he does (can't say more), but my only hunch is that "violence redeems sins". I am open to hearing from other reviewers, as I can't make up my mind about his change of attitude. Of course, the fact that a film 25 years old can leave you thinking after it's over is yet another reason why you might enjoy this movie.

Great screenplay and some of the best actors the world has ever produced. Montand gives the concept of the 'lone wolf' police detective a whole new dimension of intensity and, most importantly, credibility.

When a typical Hollywood cop-heroe loses family, friends and pets to murder he is usually given his minute of grief. But when the sixty seconds are over, he pulls himself together, packs his gun and goes gleefully shooting up his enemies one by one.

Montand's Marc Ferrot, however, is really devastated - by his girlfriends murder, of course, but also by finding out that she had another lover.In his confusion and wrath he does not seek revenge but needs to keep going to find the real perpetrator of a crime where his fingerprints are all over the scene. Thus all his actions become unescapably logical. This is the main reason why this movie glues us to our seats but definetely not the only one.

At his time, at least, Alain Corneau was guessed to fill the empty place that Jean Pierre Melville left in the French crime films genre. He was promising with this movie, and soon after with SERIE NOIRE and LE CHOIX DES ARMES. But after those, Corneau seemed to have chosen something else than crime movies. He will resume this genre with LE MOME - 1986- and LE COUSIN - 1997. His before last movie LE DEUXIEME SOUFFLE remake - a real assumed tribute to Melville's cinema - will be his best work for me. Back to this one, the plot is however far fom Melville's atmosphere but strong, with a powerful Yves Montand's character. The character study is the most important element of this tremendous French crime movie. But it is strange to call this feature with the name of a weapon - but Olivier Marchal did it too with MR 73, maybe a tribute to POLICE PYTHON 357 - as if it was an action film - which is not, except of course in the last scene, the DIRTY HARRY link - because this is a pure suspense thriller with a very unusual plot. A young woman is killed by a police superintendant - her lover - who leads the investigation, and another lover of hers, also a cop, the second in charge of the investigation, who tries his best to spoil the investigation, without knowing his superintendant is the murderer.... So no one of them knows the other was the second lover of the young victim. That's absolutely unique, great!!! It could be a South Korean crime film, complex but riveting. It's surprising that this movie has not been remade since 1976.

The 'inside' joke here is that Yves Montand wears throughout the same jacket the Clint Eastwood wore as 'Dirty Harry'. This could have backfired badly had this movie laid an egg but as it turned out it is one of both the director and his leading actor's best efforts. No one writes in a vacuum, of course, and those with long memories will recall Charles Laughton asking Ray Milland to investigate a murder that he (Laughton) himself had committed and then making Milland the patsy. This in turn was echoed in Orson Welles' "Mr. Arkadin". No matter, we can always use one more outstanding thriller and this one fits the bill to a tee shirt or, if you will, jacket. Montand scores heavily, as you would expect, as the cop who is unaware that his boss is sleeping with his (Montand's) girl friend. When, one night, a quarrel ends in tears the boss, also unaware that he shares a lover with his best detective, assigns Montand to the case, and the fascination lies in seeing Montand peeling the onion that will lead to himself (he had gone to call on his girl friend, unaware that she had been killed and left, natch, clues to his visit). Montand's real-life wife, the great Simone Signoret, turns in a fine cameo as the wife of the police chief and the poignant scene where she asks Montand's help in shooting herself is not only a highlight but to those aware of the on-set drama surrounding the scene (Signoret had enormous difficulty in going thru with it)a fitting remembrance of one of the all-time great French actresses. A feast for Montand fans.