Tir groupé

From the first part of this crime film from France, you feel the tribute that the director - Jean Claude Missaien - shows to the American film noir. Jazzy opening score, Paris by Night settings, even the police car siren which is an American one; remember LE DOULOS where Jean Pierre Melville showed American like windows for the police station. And the thugs in the suburban train car can make you think of THE INCIDENT, 1965. Lanvin in a role where we see him selling clothes at the Porte de Saint Ouen flea market is exactly what Lanvin did before becoming an actor. Good revenge film, typical of the early eighties in France, in the directing I mean, not the story. But after this one, it will get worse and worse. With LA BALANCE, it will remain one of the best of the decade.

I doubt whether this film is known outside France but it's worth a view although the beginning is rather painful to watch. A young market seller in Paris says goodbye to his fiancée on the station platform at Gare du Nord as she must return home to her parents. During the train journey three "monsters" ( where on earth did they manage to find actors with such awful faces !) board the train, bother and harass the passengers who daren't fight back and eventually end up humiliating, trying to rape and killing the girlfriend by bashing her head with an iron bar, and then jump off the train. The scene is horrible. The film is about the quest of the boyfriend to find his girlfriend's aggressors and he makes his own search as the police inquest is plodding along. There are various flashbacks to the times when they were happy together, how they met etc. The film is rather frightening as it is very realistic and reflects the insecurity in Paris of Today. Various sectors are shown : the St Ouen flea market, Montmartre, Champs Elysees, Canal St Martin .... but all in grey sad tones. The film follows the boy's search for his girlfriend's killers and he is really stricken with grief ( marvellous actor's performance ). The sun is only present in the flashback scenes when they were happy together. The film is painful to watch - there is no blood and gore, just the pathetic sight of a man who cannot come to grips with the fact that his fiancé is no more. When you've seen this one, you wont want to take public transport alone again !