The Seventh Juror

Sometimes ago, I read the comments on Le 7ème Juré, which opened my interest to have a look on it. Though Bernard Blier has never been someone I liked very much, perhaps only for his cold demeanor...

Possibly not explainable, or just because occasionally you like someone you don't know, and you have no apparent sympathy for another one... it just goes by feeling.

I have still no "ellective affinities" with BB (not Brigitte Bardot, don't get me wrong! :) but his fine performance reminds me his other movies in which he plays. Amici miei (Mario Monicelli 1975) is one example that comes to my mind... (much more enjoyable, only because it's a kind of comedy)

My apologizes to Blier : he's pretty good ! Once more !

They are pretty good, too, in that small town, with the conspiracy of silence, and indulgence for the good society. What can be said, what should not... an so forth!

Lautner is also not known to me to make very funny nor good films, but mildly diverting ones. Sorry for his fan! Now, in that one, possibly his cinematographic achievement, he demonstrates an accurate vision of human society.

And as said by another comment I wonder why he didn't use this creative force to make more ones like Le 7ème Juré.

For me, it is not possible to like this movie: it is too true, to well describing how it goes and functions everywhere... But it's an excellent one!

Critical, cynical, clinical and desperate : great drama/thriller

One may, like me, not like it but still appreciate it, as I did : great cinema !

This film is a precursor in court drama and suspense. It is also a clever criticism of French bourgeois society as symbolised by the gatherings of the city notables at the local pub or the main protagonist's wife.

Amazing film. amazingly shot, the first sequence got me totally off guard with its overwhelming and amazing soundtrack and its dream like directing style.

Le septième juré was most likely one of the most depressing films i have ever seen, it had no redeemable characters besides Sautral and Catherine and essentially nothing good ever happens, it is almost like a kafkian nightmare. Still, unlike most polar i have seen so far, it manages to be ambiguous enough to keep it from being too preachy and moralistic.i am also really grateful for how, despite how the characters see her, Catherine was treated with a certain distance and lack of judgement by the film. That made the film seem more like a comment on how moralistic and hypocritical are some spheres of society, in this case, the political and bourgeois classes. I also thought it was a really smart way to deal with the issue by making the lead character at the same time regret what he did while not exonerating him of all the guilt. Not to mention that making him, a calm and respectable man rather than a criminal or an angry man or a jealous husband or a drug user commit the crime raises the question of why would someone do that. This unanswered question instead of making the discourse seem incomplete deepens greatly the ideological reach of the film BECAUSE it leaves room for interpretation. So in short, very interesting film and considering how dark it is, quite an easy watch.

I wonder why Lautner got lost in mediocrities all along his long and lucrative career.Dozens of junk movies like"la grande sauterelle" "quelques messieurs trop tranquilles" or "flic ou voyou"...why did he bother with such things when he had a brilliant potential that explodes here?

"Le septième juré" is a psychological thriller of the first order,that actually belongs to the fifties,when the overrated "new wave" had not happened.Blending Duvivier's pessimism with Clouzot's misanthropy, and beating André Cayatte at his own game (justice and trials),it stands as Lautner's finest achievement.

Bernard Blier,excellent as ever,portrays a notable who strangles a semi-whore.Probably because of a sexual frustration.His wife(an excellent Danielle Delorme) is probably a frigid bourgeois woman.The plot thickens when Blier is asked to be a juror when a wrong man is arrested and tried for HIS crime.Then begins a suspenseful and rich story,in which looks tell more than words (the juror and the accused),in which a whole town is involved with its narrow-minded petits bourgeois,its holier-than-thou spinsters,its rotten justice.

And that's not all!In the very last minutes,comes a final revelation that will leave you on the edge of your seat.And logical,at that,because it thoroughly explains Blier's behavior.The black and white cinematography is stunning,and the ambulance light in the final shots mesmerizing.

M.Duval (Blier), bored and out walking, comes upon Catherine, a beauty sunbathing topless. He tries to kiss her and when she resists and screams, strangles her. He feels no great remorse or pangs of conscience, but when he finds himself on the jury at the trial of her main lover (she had several) does all he can to to get the wrongly-accused man acquitted. To say more would spoil your enjoyment. suffice to say the film is thoroughly gripping, and the ending terrific.

Pathe have been issuing DVDs of restored, relatively rare French films like this one. The prints are excellent and have English subtitles: I wish Gaumont would follow suit, as there are so many neglected works from the 50s and 60s by the likes of Cayatte and Hossein, brushed aside by the New Wavers like the abysmal Jean-Luc. "Juror" could have been made by the more prestigious Clouzot or Chabrol, as it shares their disgust at the prejudice and self- protection of the provincial petit bourgeoisie, Duval's wife being a prime example (no wonder he's so frustrated.)

I've seen three Lautner films restored by Pathe, and this is easily the best (probably his masterpiece, but I haven't seen all of his work.) It's a pity he mostly made silly romps with insufferably smug stars like Belmondo and Meurisse, where nothing's at stake. All that prevents me giving this film 10 is that after Duval met the prosecuting counsel in a shop pre-trial and said he believed the accused innocent, said counsel would surely have rejected Duval as a juror: that scene was a mistake.

As an outsider it was fascinating to see how the French legal system works. The juror basically conducted the defence (the defence counsel hardly said a word!) Duval constantly interrupted proceedings to ask questions. He grilled witnesses, called for one to be recalled, argued with the prosecutor and suggested a reconstruction at the crime scene. None of this would be possible in the adversarial system we have in the UK and Us: the French system, which seems focused on trying to find the truth, seems superior.