Não Há Fumaça sem Fogo

By the seventies,Annie Girardot had become André Cayatte's actress.She starred in all of his movies of the era but two ;the best was arguably "Mourir D'Aimer" .Girardot was also the most popular French actress of the seventies ,pejoratively nicknamed "the middle -class's idol.She was very likable and talented ,and now that she retired, she is missed.

The political movie was very trendy in the French seventies;many directors did their stint:Yves Boisset ("Le Juge Fayard Dit Le Shériff") Marcel Carné ("Les Assassins De L'Ordre" )Nadine Trintignant ("Defense De Savoir" )Pierre Granier-Deferre ("Adieu Poulet" ),even Claude Chabrol ("les Noces Rouges" had a strong political side),the list is endless....

The problem with Cayatte's movie is that,if it was intended as a political movie ,its ideology remains very vague (we may think that the good doctor and his wife represent the liberal left whereas the "others" are the diehards).Only the beginning and the short epilogue deal with politics.

But the screenplay is ,although implausible and terribly Manichaean,rather attractive and instead of a political movie,we have an entertaining thriller,with murders,photograph fixing, and discreet charm of the bourgeoisie .This action-packed story is never boring,and the actors (Girardot,Bernard Fresson,Mireille Darc,Michel Bouquet,Matthieu Carrière...) are all excellent.