Les égouts du paradis

Splendid, taught, believable (just) and amusing tale, apparently based on a true incident from the criminal life of a certain Albert Spaggiari.

The rag bag of characters are a wonderful change from the more usual clean cut stereotypes and despite this seemingly having no music apart from the start and finish is constantly interesting and simply a riveting watch.

The words 'heist' and 'sewers' are two that would certainly tend to lead me away from a movie but here, even though we spend about an hour under the ground it is just wonderful. Superbly shot with great dialogue and very good performances.

The number 1 reason why I wanted to see this movie is Lila Kedrova, my favorite actress, along with Giulietta Masina, Monica Vitti and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Unfortunately, the filmmakers only offered her a small role as a dying woman, probably inspired by her excellent role in "Zorba the Greek", she having very little screen time. The number 2 reason why I wanted to see the film is José Giovanni, a filmmaker which I admire a lot, author of some films which I like very much: "Last Known Address" (Original title: Dernier domicile connu) (1970), "Hit Man" (Original title: La scoumoune)(1972), "Two Men in Town" (Original title: Deux hommes dans la ville)(1973) and others. Giovanni is also a great writer for several other excellent films such as "The Sicilian Clan" (Original title: Le clan des siciliens)(1969), "Le Trou" (1960), "Classe Tous Risques" (1960), "To Skin a Spy"(Original title: Avec la peau des autres)(1966), "The Last Adventure" (Original title: Les aventuriers)(1967), "Le Deuxième Souffle" (1966). The number 3 reason why I wanted to see the film is the subject itself, robbing a bank in an ingenious way. But, this is not one of Giovanni's best films (he was once a prisoner himself, escaped from a prison). The film is monotonous, 90 of the action we see nothing but how the team of robbers digs the tunnel to reach the safe room of the bank in Nice. The choice of actors was not inspired at all, and I'm not referring to the fact that this time we don't have top stars like Alain Delon or Jean-Paul Belmondo, no. With the exception of André Pousse, who is very good in all the films in this kind of character (scoundrel informant), the others are non-expressive, very weak actors. The most annoying, for me, is the very protagonist, Francis Huster, I consider him totally unsuitable for such a role and, in addition, he resembles Emmanuel Macron, whom I hate with all my heart.

It's difficult, while watching this Giovanni flick ,not to think of Jacques Becker's "le trou" (1959) ,the script of which he wrote.But whereas the heroes of Becker's masterpiece were digging a hole to escape from jail,the "heroes" of " les egouts" are digging a tunnel to rob a bank.The characters are not endearing ,former firebrands ,although the lead rather recalls some kind of "true life" Arsène Lupin ,but a humorless Lupin.One does not see why one should take an interest in those men (and woman).Robin Hoods ,they definitely are not.

NB.Another version was made at about the same time "the great Riviera bank robbery" starring Ian McShane.The two versions were drastically different since that one showed the hero's paramilitary activities.

I am a lucky person because I have seen this wonderful movie. Starting from reality, Josè Giovanni turn a sharp, fast and essential movie about relationships between people from different lives, experiences and countries. These men are all working hard together to achieve their goal: steal the money from Societe Generale Bank in Nice (France). The actors are really clever to interprete even details of criminals - thieves and in particular, Francis Huster as Albert Spaggiari. It is also a film about deep friendship at the end when Albert Spaggiari escape from Prosecutor office (downstairs his friend is waiting for him on a motorbike). In real life, Albert Spaggiari jumping out of the Prosecutor office windows landed on the roof of a car parked just below (after a few months, he sent a money cheques to the owner of the car to repay the damages). Brilliant.

This crime drama tells the true story of Albert Spaggiari. Spaggiari (Francis Huster) masterminded one of the biggest bank jobs in modern history when he and a group of underworld types dug through the sewers to break into the Société Générale bank in Nice, France. The group, who broke in over a holiday weekend, eventually took 60 million francs. The film follows Spaggiari from the time he devises the scheme to act itself and ends with his astounding escape from custody. Huster is quite good as the likable thief and there is a fine supporting cast. Director Jose Giovanni gets a little bit political at times but it is never heavy handed. Having worked previously with both Delon and Belmondo, he handles the action well although a lot of it is routinely following the guys as they dig. The Spaggiari story also provided the groundwork for THE GREAT RIVERIA BANK ROBBERY from the same year. In that one, Ian (DEADWOOD) McShane plays the Spaggiari role as "The Brain."