What a crazy film! Writer/Director Jean-Louis Trintignant clearly enjoyed himself here. There is barely a scene that does not scream with glee at the sheer audacity and anarchic inevitability as the remarkable Jacques Dufilho utterly convinces as a man with a mission. And what a mission- to kill nine people in as imaginative ways as possible and there is method in his madness. Apart from the mad story we have the most amazing visuals and in this marvellous mix of Alejandro Jodorowsky and Jacques Tati, a wondrous black comedy that constantly startles and surprises. Possibly a little stretched, always a problem for a one idea film but something very different and well worth a watch. Bruno Nicolai also most effective, especially when it creeps into the screenplay with a reference on the radio in the car of a man about to die.
9 Reviews
A quirky, totally uninvolving film
rdoyle2913 November 2017
Jean-Louis Trintignant steps behind the camera and writes and directs this black comedy about a man who sets out to kill the 9 jurors who sent his son to death row in the space of a single day. The deaths are all different and intricately staged, so the film is basically about watching them play out. In that regard, it's virtually a silent film. It's interesting, but I found it to be strangely uninvolving. It's like watching an intricate little machine that you have no interest in.
Very Cult and not Aged Dark Comedy
claudio_carvalho11 March 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Along a day, the baker Gaston (Jacques Dufilho the name of the character in IMDb is different from the version available in Brazil) and his mother travel through France in his motorcycle with sidecar, killing nine persons in different cities in very imaginative ways. Later, it is explained that these persons were the members of the jury who had condemned his son, the sailor who killed the master of his ship, to the death sentence. "Une Journée Bien Remplie" is an amazing dark comedy. I saw this used and very rare old VHS (the distributor does not exist anymore) on sale in a rental and it was very expensive. After consulting IMDb, I decided to buy it and I really do not regret. This unknown movie (only 37 votes in IMDb) is a little gem, directed by Jean-Louis Trintignant in 1973, and which has not aged. The funny story has a huge potential of a cult movie, but unfortunately it seems that the worldwide distribution has not worked very well. If the reader has the chance to watch this movie, I really recommend not loosing the opportunity. The last scene, with the trial of Gaston and the message "To Be Continued
", is one of the best ends of a comedy I have ever seen. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Um Dia dos Diabos" ("A Hell of a Day")
Title (Brazil): "Um Dia dos Diabos" ("A Hell of a Day")
A film never to forget - 20 years ahead of its time
Dr_Nightfly2 June 2004
I think I have seen this movie as a boy, as it was released, and, later on TV, many years after. It is astounding. A precursor of many trends which would be apparent and more commonplace two decades later. For example, the opening scene: the first victim is killed at a car wrecking lot with a violence and detachment reminiscent of a Tarantino movie.
Amazing soundtrack - which gets intertwined with the actual story of the movie when a piece is announced as "the hunter" on the radio of the vehicle of one of the last victims, a hunter himself. Makes you think that both victim and assassin are hearing it and gets you emotionally in the middle of the action, sharing the raw fear and excitement of the only victim who is forewarned of the threat and at least has the means to fight back. The main title is an unforgettable tune which stays with you much after you finished watching.
A road movie - using all the most improbable means of transportation and amazingly minimalist but effective stunt driving (I was not aware of Trintignant being the director and writer until I saw the file on IMDb - which would explain mastery of this aspect of the movie...).
What amazed me most was that even when you know why the apparently innocuous baker - a fantastic Jacques Dufilho - kills with no signs of remorse whatsoever all of those people, one finds himself in his shoes and becomes convinced that his was truly "Une journée bien remplie" - a well spent day. And anticipates (with a sarcastic grin) the one that grandpa Rousseau will soon spend too....
Amazing soundtrack - which gets intertwined with the actual story of the movie when a piece is announced as "the hunter" on the radio of the vehicle of one of the last victims, a hunter himself. Makes you think that both victim and assassin are hearing it and gets you emotionally in the middle of the action, sharing the raw fear and excitement of the only victim who is forewarned of the threat and at least has the means to fight back. The main title is an unforgettable tune which stays with you much after you finished watching.
A road movie - using all the most improbable means of transportation and amazingly minimalist but effective stunt driving (I was not aware of Trintignant being the director and writer until I saw the file on IMDb - which would explain mastery of this aspect of the movie...).
What amazed me most was that even when you know why the apparently innocuous baker - a fantastic Jacques Dufilho - kills with no signs of remorse whatsoever all of those people, one finds himself in his shoes and becomes convinced that his was truly "Une journée bien remplie" - a well spent day. And anticipates (with a sarcastic grin) the one that grandpa Rousseau will soon spend too....
really interesting
SnoopyStyle27 March 2023
Jean Rousseau is traveling around France with his mother in his side-car. He kills individuals in unusual ways and shows his victims a picture of a chubby young man. It turns out that the victims are the nine jury members who convicted his son to a death sentence.
It's an interesting French-Italian black comedy. I just didn't find it compelling. It needs some dialogue especially between Jean and his mother. That's the missed opportunity. It needs some back and forth. They could be bickering. They need to be funny. Some of the kills are fun. It's a really interesting idea, but it's missing the writing.
It's an interesting French-Italian black comedy. I just didn't find it compelling. It needs some dialogue especially between Jean and his mother. That's the missed opportunity. It needs some back and forth. They could be bickering. They need to be funny. Some of the kills are fun. It's a really interesting idea, but it's missing the writing.
One of the most understated French Black-Humour Films
clive.shaw11 February 2000
I've only seen this film once, over 10 years ago on night-time TV but it has stuck firmly in my mind ever since. It begins with quite a surreal touch, you don't really know whats going on until the last 10 minutes. It follows a psycho as he goes on a murdering spree across France, killing Garage attendents, Life Guards, Actors in the most brutal, Penelope Pitstop contrived situations, ie locking the Garage attendent in his paint-oven.
All these murders are unlinked until the final 10 minutes when we discover that they are actually members of a Jury about to condemn his son, the final scence...well, I'll leave that for you.
It's black-humour at it's best, a French genre film at it's best but still, I've never seen it available on video, if anyone knows where I can source it I will be a happy man for ever more.
All these murders are unlinked until the final 10 minutes when we discover that they are actually members of a Jury about to condemn his son, the final scence...well, I'll leave that for you.
It's black-humour at it's best, a French genre film at it's best but still, I've never seen it available on video, if anyone knows where I can source it I will be a happy man for ever more.
Brilliant for it's time
ruud-351 September 2021
Rousseau's busy day
dbdumonteil18 September 2016
Four comments on a movie which has fallen into oblivion in its native country; among the four -positive,quite rightly so- reviews,no one comes from Trintignant's land .
The first of the two movies the famous actor has directed (for the record,the second is "Le Maître Nageur " ) the movie belongs to the handful of works which goes off the beaten track ,a thousand miles away from the French seventies film scene.
The subject is close to that of Douglas Hickox's "theater of blood" (released the same year,coincidence)in which Denis Price and his daughter( Diana Rigg )slew all the panel of judges who had refused to give the actor the award ,imitating Shakespeare's tragedies
Shakespeare is also present in Trintignant's work ;the actor/director appears himself in a cameo :he directs "Hamlet" and delivers this excellent line" You don't make an "Hamlet" without breaking eggs" ,in French of course ,for the French language uses the same expression.
But "Une Journée Bien Remplie " is given a very different treatment,sometimes amateurish,sometimes self-conscious ,but never "politically correct" -and with his gruesome farce,it may be possible that Trintignant wanted to express his disgust for death penalty and the "right" some people have to send their fellow men to the guillotine -one must remember that death penalty was abolished by François Mitterrand in 1981- .And the "A Suivre" (= to be continued) of the final cast and credits might indicate that grandpa is ready to take over from the baker (and not for bread and croissants).
The absence of star may explain the complete commercial failure of the effort;nevertheless Jacques Dufilho is well known over here: a stage actor,he was almost always given supporting parts ( in a career which spans four decades)for his physical appearance is not what you call bankable.In the only film in which he plays the lead,he looks so much the part I do not really know who else Trintignant could have cast in the part of this deadpan cynical dispenser of justice ;dressed in black, in a black motorcycle and sidecar ,almost always silent ,in a movie which is half silent anyway.Editing is often disturbing, Trintignant often denies his audience the suspense and if he depicts the murder in the hospital in lavish details,some of them are told by the radio -and we can appreciate the brilliant superintendent 's deductive reasoning ! The director even allows himself ,when the murderer listens to the radio ,to announce :"the track you've just heard is taken from the "Une Journée Bien Remplie" movie score " ;the black humor is constant:" Five at noon! says grandpa,you're on schedule!"
Noblesse Oblige ! (kind hearts and coronets)
The first of the two movies the famous actor has directed (for the record,the second is "Le Maître Nageur " ) the movie belongs to the handful of works which goes off the beaten track ,a thousand miles away from the French seventies film scene.
The subject is close to that of Douglas Hickox's "theater of blood" (released the same year,coincidence)in which Denis Price and his daughter( Diana Rigg )slew all the panel of judges who had refused to give the actor the award ,imitating Shakespeare's tragedies
Shakespeare is also present in Trintignant's work ;the actor/director appears himself in a cameo :he directs "Hamlet" and delivers this excellent line" You don't make an "Hamlet" without breaking eggs" ,in French of course ,for the French language uses the same expression.
But "Une Journée Bien Remplie " is given a very different treatment,sometimes amateurish,sometimes self-conscious ,but never "politically correct" -and with his gruesome farce,it may be possible that Trintignant wanted to express his disgust for death penalty and the "right" some people have to send their fellow men to the guillotine -one must remember that death penalty was abolished by François Mitterrand in 1981- .And the "A Suivre" (= to be continued) of the final cast and credits might indicate that grandpa is ready to take over from the baker (and not for bread and croissants).
The absence of star may explain the complete commercial failure of the effort;nevertheless Jacques Dufilho is well known over here: a stage actor,he was almost always given supporting parts ( in a career which spans four decades)for his physical appearance is not what you call bankable.In the only film in which he plays the lead,he looks so much the part I do not really know who else Trintignant could have cast in the part of this deadpan cynical dispenser of justice ;dressed in black, in a black motorcycle and sidecar ,almost always silent ,in a movie which is half silent anyway.Editing is often disturbing, Trintignant often denies his audience the suspense and if he depicts the murder in the hospital in lavish details,some of them are told by the radio -and we can appreciate the brilliant superintendent 's deductive reasoning ! The director even allows himself ,when the murderer listens to the radio ,to announce :"the track you've just heard is taken from the "Une Journée Bien Remplie" movie score " ;the black humor is constant:" Five at noon! says grandpa,you're on schedule!"
Noblesse Oblige ! (kind hearts and coronets)
Serial killer before its time
searchanddestroy-125 April 2024
Or maybe influenced by THEATER OF BLOOD or THE ABOMINABLE DR PHIBES, in terms of scheme, topic, vengeance of a father to avenge the death of his son - himself a murderer - who was sentenced and executed by the justice after a trial. So it is a weird, offbeat, story, in the Jean Pierre Mocky's style, as f...of as will be LE MAITRE NAGEUR, a few years later, directed by the same Jean Louis Trintignant. I have been puzzled - and still am - by the meaning of both films, especially from some one like Trintignant. I would have expected something more sensitive, poignant, some kind of drama, character study, instead of this sort of joke. Yes, I am puzzled, but not deceived. This is exceptional, it announces Gustave de Kervern's world, starring Yolande Moreau and the new old version of Gerard Depardieu.
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