O Juiz e o Assassino

This stupendous film by Bertrand Tavernier is set against the background of the Dreyfus Affair and the workers' struggles which led to the formation of the Confédération Générale du Travail. Under the spotlight here is the abuse of power by institutions and the inequalities of the justice system.

The two leading protagonists are serial rapist and murderer Joseph Bouvier, based upon real life Joseph Vacher and played to the hilt by Michel Calabru whilst judge Fourquet has here become the unscrupulous Rousseau and is personified by the immaculate Philippe Noiret. His character is not, as an earlier reviewer has suggested, based upon forensic doctor Etienne Lacassagne who is here named Degueldre and is played by Yves Robert.

Bouvier and Rousseau could be said to represent both sides of the same coin. Bouvier is undeniably a monster but is clearly insane(or is he?) whilst Rousseau is in full possession of his faculties and is determined to have Bouvier guillotined in order to further his own ambition, even to the point of cleverly gaining Bouvier's trust so as to extract a full confession.

Ambiguity reigns supreme here and who better to play Rousseau than Noiret whose working relationship with Tavernier, numbering nine films, is a marriage made in heaven. Tavernier not only gifted Noiret challenging roles but wisely gave him free rein in performance. It is understandably Michel Calabru's tour de force as Bouvier that earned him a well-deserved César. His is inspired casting for he was mainly known for his appearances in the popular 'Gendarme' series and there was nothing in his cinematic CV that would suggest he was capable of a performance of this magnitude. His tenure throughout the 1950's with the Comédie Francaise undoubtedly stood him in good stead for this demanding role.

Marvellous support from Jean-Claude Brialy, veteran Renée Faure and moving up the ranks, the twenty-one year old Isabelle Huppert who would again work with Tavernier and Noiret in 'Coup de Torchon' and is here just one year away from her iconic role as 'La Dentelliere'.

We owe Tavernier a debt of thanks for having brought legendary writing duo Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost in from the cold and as one would expect from exponents of 'cinéma de qualité', their script is beautifully crafted, intelligent and trenchant. Tavernier's unerring sense of place and period and his eye for detail are in evidence here whilst his preferred cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn ensures gorgeous rural images. Inspired score by another of Tavernier's regulars Philippe Sarde with the final song based upon revolutionary tunes from the Commune.

The final caption which points out that although Bouvier's unfortunate young victims numbered twelve, no less than twenty thousand children perished in the mines, serves as a stark reminder of how elusive was the concept of 'Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité'.

And with him,the French cinema regained all that it had lost with the nouvelle vague:magnificent cinematography(I urge everybody to see this film in a movie theater),elaborate screenplays,Clouzot's Renoir's and Duvivier's bite ,all that made once the French cinema great."Le juge et l'assassin " is his sophomore effort ,after "l'horloger de Saint- Paul",but it was one which firmly and finally placed Tavernier among the greatest,most ambitious artists of the French cinema.

First of all,he did with Michel Galabru -who used to play in mediocre comedies - what Claude Chabrol did with Jean Yanne ("le boucher" "que la bete meure") :this actor is playing his lifetime part,revealing a talent which one would never expect from him.

France,end of the nineteenth century;anti-Semitism is rampant :twice ,a poster appears :"La croix (the cross): a paper against the Jews as no one can";Brialy's character:"we all need an outlet for our bad deeds:I have chosen the Jews,because it's safe";Renée Faure,the judge's good mother,serving the "mercy bouillon" to the Poor,provided that they sign a petition against captain Dreyfus .After the 1870 war,France was humiliated and the song a buck officer sings speaks volumes about the loss of Alsace and Lorraine.A world which Zola -whose books were burned- depicted ,where 2,500 children died in the coal mines... The killer killed 12 of them..

This is not a serial killer who comes out of the blue.Tavernier takes time to describe his mind :he was bitten by a rabid dog (or more like as one scene in a church tells us ,he was raped by a priest),he served in the army but was discharged,and mainly the girl he loved did not want him anymore.He tried to kill her and to take his own life but he failed twice,and in the asylum,they wrecked his brain.Although he is a killer,he is actually a political prisoner:he realized that as far his crimes were concerned ,the blame had to be put on a criminal society:in a remarkable scene ,the judge's mother reads the reports concerning the awful crimes as if she 's reading the tittle-tattle of the town.The serial killer identifies himself with Jesus and Joan of Arc ...

In direct contrast to hîm,we have the judge :admirably portrayed by Tavernier's favourite actor ,Philippe Noiret,he epitomizes the bourgeoisie,the man who wants to keep the world as it is;this is a very complex opaque character:nearing 50,he stills lives with his mother,and he's got nasty habits (see the scene when he buggers Isabelle Huppert).

There are a lot of things to say about "le juge et l'assassin":the film successfully recreates the atmosphere of the period,not only by its hints at Dreyfus,at a country which is bent on revenge ,at a Church which feels its power slip away (the priest thundering against "school without God" ,about 10 years after Jules Ferry instituted secular education,and about 10 years before the separation of the Church and the State in France).But it even recreates it with its original songs ,which is quite a feat.We really feel we are in the time machine,and that's the main reason why Tavernier's movie is so precious:no one can find echoes of the seventies in France,which would have dated and marred the film.Even if the socialists appear at the end of the movie,there's no connection with their impending coming in the eighties.

A masterpiece ,Tavernier's best film along with "la vie et rien d'autre".

I can't make a real judgment on this film, although the other reviews are rave ones. I just want to add that the story is based on an actual case of the 1890s in France. Joseph Vacher was the real life murderer who is the basis for Michel Galabrue's Joseph Bouvier. Like Vacher he was a former soldier, and he went about the countryside slaughtering young boy shepherds and young girl servants. His destruction of these victims (in terms of mutilations) rivaled his contemporary Jack the Ripper (Vacher was known as Vacher the Ripper). Although he was quite insane the public demanded a death penalty - he was guillotined in 1898. His crimes briefly took public attention off the matter of Captain Alfred Dreyfus.

The Philippe Noiret character is partly based on the noted criminologist Professor Alexander Lacassagne, who (despite considerable evidence of insanity) determined that Vacher was sane, and deserved the death penalty.

Michel Galabru got the highest french award for his role in this movie, the "Cesar du meilleur acteur". Galabru became then one of the greatest actor in France.

Either in comedy or in tragedy (see "Le gendarme" and "L'été meurtrier".

The judge and the assassin is a strange and ironic title for this film. It does not represent what your mind immediately leads you to believe. It is about the arrest and trial of a psychopath, alas French auteur style. It bears in odd-about way a resemblance to Lacombe Lucien which was released two years earlier. Featuring a bravura performance by Michel Galabru ( he worn the Cesar, the French Oscar) as the serial killer, his trial becomes a study into the mind and evil of nation at the turn of the last century. Dealing with anti-semitism, civil unrest, disobedience and the tyranny of the France and the Church can make anyone crazy and an assassin. With strong performances by Tavernier favorite actor Philippe Noiret and a young Isabelle Huppert, it is a fine film in the tradition of French cinema prior to the advent of the New Wave.