Body of My Enemy (1976)
"Le corps de mon ennemi" (original title)

Francois always despised the textile barons who ruled his local town. But he fell in love with the family heiress Gilberte. Ten years ago, he would have married her. Now only hatred holds them together. Francois is accused of murder. A hooker and a football star lie slaughtered. He thinks he has been framed by the mob. Going underground, he finds that the trail leads all the way to the top - to ... See full summary »

Director:

Henri Verneuil

Writers:

Michel Audiard (screenplay), Félicien Marceau (novel),

Stars:

Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bernard Blier, Marie-France Pisier

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean-Paul Belmondo	...	François Leclercq
Bernard Blier	...	Jean-Baptiste Liégard
Marie-France Pisier	...	Gilberte Liégard
Charles Gérard	...	Le chauffeur de taxi
Daniel Ivernel	...	Victor Verbruck, le maire
Claude Brosset	...	Oscar, dit Janine
Michel Beaune	...	L'ami d'enfance
François Perrot	...	Raphaël Di Massa
René Lefèvre	...	Pierre Leclercq
Nicole Garcia	...	Hélène Mauve
Yvonne Gaudeau	...	Madame Liégard (dite 'la Reine Mère')
Suzy Prim	...	La mère de Marie-Adélaïde
Jean Dasté	...	Le gardien du chantier
Jacques David	...	L'avocat général
Jean Turlier	...	La Roche-Bernard

Storyline

Francois always despised the textile barons who ruled his local town. But he fell in love with the family heiress Gilberte. Ten years ago, he would have married her. Now only hatred holds them together. Francois is accused of murder. A hooker and a football star lie slaughtered. He thinks he has been framed by the mob. Going underground, he finds that the trail leads all the way to the top - to Gilberte's family. He needs friends. And friends are hard to come by in his town.

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Plot Keywords:

revenge | criminal | flanders | police | imprisonment | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

13 October 1976 (France)

Also Known As:

O Corpo do Meu Inimigo

Filming Locations:

Hôtel-restaurant Le Baltimore, 88bis avenue Kléber, Paris 16, Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

FRF 15,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Andrea Films, Cerito Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

User Reviews

Scores more for its ambitions than its achievements

Le Corps de Mon Ennemi may ultimately have a conventional plot motor – after seven years inside for a crime he didn't commit, Jean-Paul Belmondo's failed social climber returns to his home town to have his revenge on the real killer – but Henri Verneuil's film has loftier ambitions than most of his previous successful collaborations with the star. Much of the film takes place inside Belmondo's head, both in lengthy voice-over sequences and flashbacks that see his younger self played very deliberately by the middle-aged star, a device that occasionally confuses the timeframe as the film moves back and forth between his rise and fall as the poor boy romances local factory boss Bertrand Blier's daughter Marie France Pisier, only to fall out with the family when he won't scupper his own father's election chances, and the generally ignominious fates of his former friends and enemies seven years later. Unfortunately the film tends to fall between two stools: there's not enough action or threat for a genuine thriller while the observations on the class war in the increasingly sprawling town are nothing new, the motive for framing him seems unnecessarily vague and the idea of local industrialists raking back the wages they pay out by running as many of the town's vices on the side as possible is never really explored (though it is amusing to see them unwittingly left playing Monopoly with each other while Belmondo slips away to arrange a killing). It's watchable even if Belmondo lays on the self-confident charm way too thick in the first half, but you're definitely left with the feeling that there should be a lot more to it.