Série noire

IMDb synopsis says that Franck Poupart, played by Patrick Dewaere, is 'slightly neurotic'. It's actually much worse, Poupart is a complete maniac, left unsupervised in a jungle of HLM, terrains vagues, poverty and filth. He even readily mumbles to himself that he's psychotic.

I heard of Série noire when looking up Dewaere bio on wikipedia. It was mentioned how physically hard the filming was on the actors, and on Dewaere in particular. The characters keep fighting and shouting at each other, and they won't stop until they're completely exhausted or drunk. Except of course for Blier, who plays the soft spoken treacherous coward. I found this movie very close in spirit to Zola who would place weak personalities in a closed environment to sadistically observe what happens. Everyone is to blame for what happens, everyone is guilty.

This is a true chef d'œuvre, but a disturbing one, the kind of movie you'll be thinking of for days to come. It's all about madness, and you'll wonder how far you are from falling into it.

For this viewer at any rate the only two film versions of his novels that have captured the bleakness of Jim Thompson's world vision have been directed by Frenchmen.

Alain Corneau had hoped to film 'Cop 1280' but that was to be done two years later by Tavernier as 'Coup de Torchon' so Corneau and writer Georges Perec set about the task of adapting Thompson's 'A hell of a Woman' and transposing the setting from '50's America to 70's France.

The cinematographer on both films is Pierre-William Glenn.

Described by one critic as 'an excursion into Hell' this unutterably seedy, squalid, desolate, depressing, misanthropic and one would have to say, mesmerising piece, did not fare too well when first released but has since acquired cult status, mainly due to Patrick Dewaere's electrifying performance as the deranged Franck Poupart.

By all accounts Corneau would only consider Dewaere for the role and one can fully understand why. This talented actor was evidently a troubled soul whose inner darkness makes his portrayal terrifyingly real and one shudders to think just how much this performance must have taken out of him.

There are two women in Franck's life, his unpredictable wife Jeanne played by Myriam Boyer and the autistic prostitute Mona of Marie Trintignant whose mother Nadine happened to be Dewaere's partner at the time. Marie was sixteen and one wonders how her mother, or indeed her father Jean-Louis, felt about her first scene in which she bares all. Corneau later commented that working on this uncompromisingly adult film may have left its mark on her. Bertolucci said the same thing about Maria Schneider in 'Last Tango in Paris' but of course it is easy for a director to be sympathetic in hindsight.

Excellent performances from a small but select cast notably Bernard Blier whose son Bertrand had already directed Dewaere in two films.

The title 'Série Noire' is especially apt as it was the name of the publishing imprint which introduced Thompson's hard boiled works to French readers. It also loosely translates as 'run of bad luck' which in the case of Poupart is something of an understatement.

This film is not an easy watch but is essential viewing for all true cinéphiles and ranks as one of Corneau's finest. It is even more poignant in light of the tragic fate that befell both Patrick Dewaere and Marie Trintignant.

It seems appropriate here to mention that Jean-Louis Trintignant, one of France's greatest post-War actors, shuffled off this mortal coil in June of this year.

This is the second Jim Thompson adaptation I review here and it's purely coincidental. I really must love Thompson's style. I wasn't expected a masterpiece when I bought Série Noire in DVD, tho. I've always been fond of the late Patrick Dewaere, I think he is one of the best French actors ever, and I like Corneau's cinema, but Série Noire was unexpected and it is indeed extraordinary. It's daring, tense and plunged into harsh realism. It's the kind of film that stays with you once you've finished watching it. It shows how easy it is to lose control when society becomes a weight on personal identity. Série Noire is a different kind of Film Noir and probably the best French crime film among Le cercle rouge and Du Rififi chez les hommes. It has a ton of black humor and a bleak atmosphere. Corneau shoots Paris as if it was itself a character, a gloomy, grey and ruthless antagonist. The sordid locations and the moisty dirty apartments where the action takes place give a really weird and nightmarish mood to the film. The social pressure which the character is subject is huge and unbearable; it literally toys with him until he breaks. Patrick Dewaere shines like in no other films, he's brilliant as the neurotic looser who gets wrapped into this tragic vortex after the killing of an old woman. His downfall somehow reminded me of the dizzying Richard Widmark's runaway in Night and the city. Georges Perec's dialogues are just great, very similar to Michel Audiard or Bertrand Blier's style. The cast is perfect. Bernard Blier is excellent as usual and Marie Trintignant is mysterious and sensual. If you like 70's French crime films, you have to watch it, this is one of the best.

I seem to be on something of an Alain Corneau binge, somewhat by accident. (These films were all recently added to kanopy...) Corneau is certainly not a one-trick pony, as his work spans an incredible range. This creation offers the ultimate noir de noir: super dark, bleak, depressing, yet somehow compelling at the same time. Quite well constructed and reminiscent in some ways of both the Coen brothers and Lina Wertmuller... I would not, however, characterize this film as a comedy. A bit too dark for that...

Probably the best film i never intend to watch again. This film is absolutely stressing, every minute of it is stressing. Nothing good ever happens, i cringe at every decision the lead ever made and the overall atmosphere is that of absolute claustrophobia. Everyone absolutely sucks in this film ( the character, not the actors), they are violent, selfish , mean spirited and cruel, with the exception of Mona which is portrayed as sort of a Venus at the same time as a saint. I thought her portrayal was a bit problematic since we get the idea that if you refuse to essentially take advantage out of someone , then this someone is immediately in debt with you. It also bothered me how the film makes you like her and root for her best and at the same time gives us a lead that sells her short in every chance he ever gets. Anyways, the film was good it's just a little bit too depressing for me, i got to say though that i was happy that it had a sort of a happy ending, i mean things probably went pretty badly for the characters after the end but i'm just grateful that the film chose not to show that.