Claude Sautet was one of the most prestigious French film makers ever, especially during the seventies and eighties. The Romy Schneider era was his highlight. He was an awesome, brilliant actors director and not only in "friends symphony " dramas, but also in crime films: CLASSE TOUS RISQUES, L'ARME A GAUCHE and this one, which is his best crime for me. An intelligent story inspired by a Claude Néron's novel, the author of a book that also inspired Sautet: VINCENT FRANCOIS PAUL ET LES AUTRES, and some novelisations too. The book is rather complex to summarize but the adaptation makes things far easier for the audiences. The topic of cops manipulating punks reminds me some Bill James' novels, a British crime novelist. Here, Michel Piccoli and Romy Schneider are at their forever peak, outstanding and the atmosphere of Paris suburb absolutely superb too. Especially Piccoli in a so ambivalent and ambiguous role. Disturbing would be the proper word. A pure jewel, masterpiece of the crime French film industry. But try to read the book, it is really worth. Jaw dropping finale.
Review of Max and the Junkmen
