7 morts sur ordonnance (1975)

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

Director:

Jacques Rouffio

Writers:

Georges Conchon (original scenario), Georges Conchon (adaptation)

Stars:

Michel Piccoli, Gérard Depardieu, Jane Birkin

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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
Coline Serreau	...	Mrs. Mauvagne
Antonio Ferrandis	...	Le commissaire Giret (as Antonio Ferrandis Monrabal)
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	...	Le joueur de poker professionnel

Storyline

Dr. Brézé and his sons, all surgeons with limited abilities fight any competition on their sector with all means. Especially a well-known operating surgeon Pierre Losseray, which wants to operate again after a cardiac infarct and a longer recovery break. Night for night he is terrorized by the old Brézé with calls, being accused by him of the murder of patients, threatens with measures of the physician chamber.

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Plot Keywords:

surgeon | harassment | husband murders wife | private hospital | slander | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

France West Germany Spain

Language:

French

Release Date:

3 December 1975 (France)

Also Known As:

Семь смертей по рецепту

Filming Locations:

Rue Ernest Renan, Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Belstar Productions, Films 66, TIT Filmproduktion GmbH

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in One Hundred and One Nights (1995)

User Reviews

Unfocused and pointless

The premise is the only redeeming part, and thanks to a great cast. It is most intriguing to have a story set in the medical society. The simple fact that private hospitals are run like businesses where patients are just customers leading to an invoice and a profit has potential as a dramatic subtext, especially with good surgeons, caring for their jobs and patients, at a loss in this "no holds barred" arena.

Unfortunately, as pointed by the two previous reviewers, the film-makers made two wrong choices. First we don't need to experience the backstory of 10 years before. The cutting back and forth is really distracting and it doesn't move the story forward. Then here lies the biggest problem: the story is pointless. Probably because Director Rouffio and his screenwriter Conchon were stuck with the true story it is based on. But the intercut flashbacks are at odds with a documentary approach. So we are left to be content with an anecdotal storyline.

Pity we didn't get a better movie with Piccoli, Depardieu and the rest. So much so that it is an endemic disease of French movies that the film-makers are so proud of their premise they don't care if the story leads somewhere.