Preuve d'amour

a French thriller of the eighties,"Preuve d'Amour" bears all the appropriate scars of the time:it is a patchy inconsistent movie ,with gaudy scenes and an unbearable music:flashy and no substance.Influenced by former works which were not that much good in the first place (the flashbacks inspired by "l'Ete Meurtrier" ,the cinematography desperately trying to ape that of "Diva" ). If there was a time for French thrillers ,it was the fifties when Clouzot,Decoin,Duvivier and even Hossein were here with their firm screenplays.

The film is dedicated to Michel Auclair who died when the film was released,it's a very sad swansong for an exceptional actor who was featured in at least half a dozen of classics ,notably "La Belle Et La Bête" by Cocteau ,"Les Maudits" by Clement,"Manon" by Clouzot and "La Fete A Henriette " by Duvivier.He has only three or four scenes and ,probably already sick,he is only the ghost of himself.The rest of the cast is undistinguished and badly directed,even earnest thespians such as Darmon and Spiesser cannot play their game well.The poor plot revolves around blackmail and murder.

Because of the lack of substance ,the writers call American cinema and literature for help;we learn that both the hero and the heroine love Francis Scott Fitzgerald and his "design" apartment shows posters of "Crimes in the city" (Don Siegel) and "Night of the iguana" (John Huston).The hero's pet is an iguana called "Hypocrit" .This reptile steals the show.

Monsieur Courtois is a relatively unknown modern french director. Unfortunately this is something fair, because his movies don't have anything worth mention. This one is his first feature film and, to be honest, is terrible. Hithcock is a major influence for french directors but it is not enough loving a director. Monsieur Courtois wanted to make a film a-la hitchcock, the protagonist gets into trouble, although he is innocent, but that's all. A journalist who doesn't know, who is after him and why he is after him, a beautiful prostitite,, Paris by night, sex, phoney atmosphere and nothing else. This is a movie for film students who want to have some fun. Noone else can watch it without a feeling of boredom and fatigue.