Au-delà de la peur

Yannick Andrei worked wonders when it came to making storybook miniseries as "la Dame de Montsoreau" or " La Juive Du Château-Trompette" testify.This is his only silver screen work and it's not as good as his MTV films.

All the actors look so much the part they become caricatures: Michel Bouquet,Claude Chabrol's bourgeois;Michel Constantin,the criminal-who-keeps-his-word;Paul Crauchet the cop,and so on.

Bouquet's family (except for the mum-in-law who is shot as soon as the gangsters enter the house) is held hostage in his desirable mansion for he's become a man who knows too much (he was mistaken for an accomplice and he knows everything of the pack's future break in).And this peaceful man begins to play cat and mouse with the villains....till his brother-in-law lets the cat out of the bag and tells the police...

Bouquet takes trouble over a movie unworthy of his talent.

Certainly not a masterpiece, but we see a lot of Paris and west suburb (where the director Yannick Andréi lived) with cars, roads, clothes, ... from the 60's-70's, sort of document. And the movie is well shot and edited, especially for the cars pursuits. Quite nervous hostage taking story, certainly shot very quickly with low budget. Michel Bouquet and Michel Constantin are both very tense, Bouquet wearing a frightening mask of death till the desperate end. The original title was "Between fear and death", maybe closer to the desperate family victim of that tragedy. Michel Creton as Constantin's associate was to be played by Patrick Dewaere, it would have a good choice. And there was an option for Mario Adorf as Michel Constantin's character. And an option for Maurice Garrel as inspector Bourrier. Yannick Andréi edited two versions, one for theatres, the other for television with less violence, which one did we finally see?

All the ending is shot in a district in a town of the west suburb of Paris, and that district was dangerous in the evening, it was razed and replaced by big buildings after the shooting. And before all the shops vanished, Yannick Andréi shot these streets in long travellings as to honour that area.

"Au-delà de la Peur" is the second and last movie Yannick Andréi shot for cinema, he did much better for television, but "Au-delà de la peur" should be released on DVD.

I know this feature since four décades now, and I saw it again a few minutes ago. It is really well made, as directing and especially acting. Characters are superbly convincing, very good surprise for this kind of grade B French crime film. And the director was a TV film maker, more than a big screen one. But there are some holes in the story. For instance, what happened to the guy supposed to be carried in, in Michel Bouquet's character's place, the electronic specialist...? What happened to him? But I insist on the acting performance of many actors here, Michel Bouquet and the italian actress above all. And this scheme of a man defending his family is more a made in US kind of thriller than a French one. To summarize it is not only a pure crime flick but also a thriller.