La crime (1983)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Philippe Labro

Writers:

Jacques Labib (writer)
Philippe Labro (writer)

Release Date:

24 August 1983 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Romance | Thriller

Plot Keywords:

Police Detective | Investigation | Male Female Relationship | Dominatrix | Corruption

Cast

Claude Brasseur	...	Commissaire Martin Griffon
Jean-Claude Brialy	...	Le contrôleur Jean-François Rambert
Gabrielle Lazure	...	Sybille Berger
Jean-Louis Trintignant	...	Christian Lacassagne
Dayle Haddon	...	Suzy Thomson, alias D'Annunzio
Robert Hirsch	...	Avram Kazavian
Jacques Dacqmine	...	Me Antoine d'Alins
Daniel Jégou	...	Philippe d'Alins
Luc-Antoine Diquéro	...	Antoine Gomez
Yves Beneyton	...	Millard, le directeur du ministre de l'Intérieur
Jacques Bondoux	...	Un observateur
Dominique Bony
Robert Cantarella	...	Un homme de 'la Crime'
Dominique Constanza	...	Lucienne Rambert
Jean-Pierre Dravel	...	Un homme de 'la Crime'

Also Known As:

Cover Up (International: English title)

Runtime:

France:103 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Certification:

Germany:16

Company:

Films A2

A real gem

A lot of people regard this film as being run of the mill and stereotypical. I tend to disagree. What happened was that Labro directed a very classical dark series 40s film with scerwball elements in early 80s France. So needless to say that he uses motives from the dark series as opposed to stereotypes. Martin Griffon is very much a dark series hero but particularly in the original French version he is also very Gallic (up to the point of caricature), a slob who coughs up phlegm. Essentially he is Columbo on acid which works and is very funny. The film itself is complex, full of deceit and corruption but not as confuse as classic dark series films. I actually find the story fast paced and original and the characters are intriguing and played by excellent actors. Gabrielle Lazure's character adds a touch of screwball comedy and Dayle Haddon as love sick dominatrix is excellent. So the film works on many levels: it's full of suspense, romantic (in the meaning of having a knight looking for his holy grail: the truth), funny, elegant (particularly the dialog)and well acted. It also has a terrific soundtrack. And watch out for the character called Inspector Gomez- this actor must have played a cop in every French film I have ever seen.