Una giornata spesa bene

I've only seen this film once, over 10 years ago on night-time TV but it has stuck firmly in my mind ever since. It begins with quite a surreal touch, you don't really know whats going on until the last 10 minutes. It follows a psycho as he goes on a murdering spree across France, killing Garage attendents, Life Guards, Actors in the most brutal, Penelope Pitstop contrived situations, ie locking the Garage attendent in his paint-oven.

All these murders are unlinked until the final 10 minutes when we discover that they are actually members of a Jury about to condemn his son, the final scence...well, I'll leave that for you.

It's black-humour at it's best, a French genre film at it's best but still, I've never seen it available on video, if anyone knows where I can source it I will be a happy man for ever more.

Jean-Louis Trintignant steps behind the camera and writes and directs this black comedy about a man who sets out to kill the 9 jurors who sent his son to death row in the space of a single day. The deaths are all different and intricately staged, so the film is basically about watching them play out. In that regard, it's virtually a silent film. It's interesting, but I found it to be strangely uninvolving. It's like watching an intricate little machine that you have no interest in.

More than 40 Years ago Jean Louis Trintignant wrote and directer this this little black humor story. In 2021 it 's still strong and very funny, if it's your taste.

Jean Rousseau is traveling around France with his mother in his side-car. He kills individuals in unusual ways and shows his victims a picture of a chubby young man. It turns out that the victims are the nine jury members who convicted his son to a death sentence.

It's an interesting French-Italian black comedy. I just didn't find it compelling. It needs some dialogue especially between Jean and his mother. That's the missed opportunity. It needs some back and forth. They could be bickering. They need to be funny. Some of the kills are fun. It's a really interesting idea, but it's missing the writing.

I think I have seen this movie as a boy, as it was released, and, later on TV, many years after. It is astounding. A precursor of many trends which would be apparent and more commonplace two decades later. For example, the opening scene: the first victim is killed at a car wrecking lot with a violence and detachment reminiscent of a Tarantino movie.

Amazing soundtrack - which gets intertwined with the actual story of the movie when a piece is announced as "the hunter" on the radio of the vehicle of one of the last victims, a hunter himself. Makes you think that both victim and assassin are hearing it and gets you emotionally in the middle of the action, sharing the raw fear and excitement of the only victim who is forewarned of the threat and at least has the means to fight back. The main title is an unforgettable tune which stays with you much after you finished watching.

A road movie - using all the most improbable means of transportation and amazingly minimalist but effective stunt driving (I was not aware of Trintignant being the director and writer until I saw the file on IMDb - which would explain mastery of this aspect of the movie...).

What amazed me most was that even when you know why the apparently innocuous baker - a fantastic Jacques Dufilho - kills with no signs of remorse whatsoever all of those people, one finds himself in his shoes and becomes convinced that his was truly "Une journée bien remplie" - a well spent day. And anticipates (with a sarcastic grin) the one that grandpa Rousseau will soon spend too....