Ultimo domicilio conosciuto

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.

Ventura is the seasoned cop who gets punished by his boss and transferred to a secondary precinct and Jobert the idealistic trainee, who must support him during a relentless chase.

A key witness to a mafia crime disappeared five years previously and the guilty mafia boss may get acquitted without the witness evidence.

With five days to go before the end of the trial the unlikely couple run around Paris, trying to find the witness and betting everything on retracing his daughter, a pale, sick but remarkable girl who left an impression on whomever met her.

Unfolding before the digital era, the investigation takes place in the field, which means hundreds of schools, chemists and doctors visited. All this, while the mafioso's gang is following closely, eager to eliminate the witness before the police finds him.

The story is filmed in the suitably melancholic autumn season in rainy Paris and enhanced by suitable score. The twist at the end came unexpectedly to me, but it makes a lot of sense. Very good, no frills, believable story.

Lino Ventura is simply perfect as this noir hero, too professional to rebel against the absurdity of his job. But why would they have him wear a small hat? The big broad-shouldered, former pro wrestler, Lino Ventura in brown-over-black 1970 style (remember Shaft?), OK, but who wears a hat in 1970? It makes him look like Inspector Clouseau. In the book Francis X. Kerrigan wears a dust jacket, OK this is the overused private coat, but keep it simple, in tune and in genre.

Fortunately the story is good, it's a sharp and clean police procedural and it shows that José Giovanni loved it. He loved that it displayed a stubborn officer walking his beat in the midst of general hostility against police. It was really fashionable to criticise the police around 1969 and Giovanni is happy to drive the point home more than once, most prominently in Paul Crauchet's monologue, but generally in the absurdity of Lino Ventura's assignments. Subtlety is definitely not Giovanni's forte but here it blends well with the simple police procedural.

All in all this could have been a tremendous modern noir with a better director (Melville, Sautet). The result doesn't show important directorial choices. Camera work and editing are average, and sound editing is poor while François de Roubaix's score would have been sufficient to carry most of the images. In the end you will feel as if the movie simply vanishes from your memory while you were really rooting for Ventura and Joubert minutes before.

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.

First of all, this is the first time I have watched a Lino Venture movie, so seeing it with new eyes has perhaps conferred it a special shine. But it is truly a very beautiful movie shot in a 1960s Paris in which only the cars have changed over the years. But the beauty also applies to the cast of actors and to their sensitive acting.

Lino Ventura is the fallen cop who doesn't bare a grudge and is dedicated as ever to his job, landing him into a painful fist fight with some thugs, and dealing chivalrously with his bright-eyed assistant Marlène Jobert who truly delivers as a newcomer to the job of crime fighting, aptly portraying both excitement and disillusion. The supporting cast, good and evil, deliver very well and accurately depict Paris' diversity (often through gritty character depictions and photography) 40 years back.

The plot flows well, sometimes interspersed with dream sequences which are beautifully rendered. Never cheesy (like so many movies of the time), well paced and acted, truly a great cop movie which has aged very gracefully.