Sept morts sur ordonnance (1975)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Jacques Rouffio

Writers:

Georges Conchon (novel)
Georges Conchon (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

9 December 1978 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Dr. Brézé and his sons, all surgeons with limited abilities fight any competition on their sector with all means.

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Michel Piccoli	...	Dr. Pierre Losseray
Gérard Depardieu	...	Doctor Jean-Pierre Berg
Jane Birkin	...	Jane Berg
Marina Vlady	...	Muriel Losseray
Charles Vanel	...	Old Brézé
Michel Auclair	...	Dr. Mathy
Monique Mélinand	...	Mrs. Giret
Antonio Ferrandis	...	Le commissaire Giret (as Antonio Ferrandis Monvabal)
Coline Serreau	...	Mrs. Mauvagne
Georg Marischka	...	Paul Brézé
José María Prada	...	Simon Mauvagne (as José Maria Prada Oterino)
Karl Schönböck	...	Joseph Brézé
Etienne Draber	...	Robert Brézé
Guy de Belleval	...	Henri Chantin-Brézé
Claude Barrois

Also Known As:

7 morts sur Ordonnance (France) (poster title)
Quartett Bestial (West Germany)
Siete muertes por prescripción facultativa (Spain)

Runtime:

France:105 min | Spain:100 min

Country:

France | West Germany | Spain

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:-12

Filming Locations:

Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, France

Company:

Belstar Productions

Movie Connections:

Featured in Les cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma (1995)

A true story...

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

...but time has not treated Jacques Rouffio's flick kindly.Two stories within fifteen years of one another,two surgeons who committed suicide because of a an old doctor (Charles Vanel) and his offprings who could not stand competition.Using gossips,false rumors and slander,the clique gets away unharmed and can repeat its bad deeds again ,as the last picture shows.

It is not easy to blend two stories and they do not hang well together.As he did not want the viewer to loose the vital lead ,Rouffio felt compelled to repeat his scenes .The best would have been not to show the Depardieu plot ,the weakest of the two . Doctor Berg is a caricature(the actor,27 at the time ,was too young ),complete with moustache,bow tie and hip suit .This is not an in-depth portrayal:you cannot claim that a surgeon epitomizes a "humane" medicine just because he climbs up the hospital wall to visit his patients or because he cheats in his chic gambling circle.The Michel Piccoli story is certainly more moving and the film should have focused on it,Michel Auclair's shrink character telling us what happened before.