Identité judiciaire

Police commissioner Basquier (Raymond Souplex) leads his team of chain-smoking detectives on the hunt for a sadistic killer who likes to drug his victims. The film is largely office-bound, dealing with the procedural aspects of the enquiry, though director Hervé Bromberger does manage to squeeze in a car chase, a streetfight between two young women, and a scene in which a roomful of prostitutes are strip-searched. This is a movie that doesn't mind lifting its skirt and flashing a bit of thigh even while it's wagging its finger at the more degenerate elements of society.

It's hardly Silence of the Lambs, but the understated performance of Souplex, who went on to play a similar role in a long-running French TV series, keeps it grounded in a believable reality. There's a decent twist ("Oh, it's that guy!") and when the movie does finally step out of the office for the obligatory chase scene, there is some good Paris location work.

It was interesting to read the other review here, of the US cut, which appears to have had 14 minutes removed. The French DVD is the full 90-minute version and includes brief nudity.