BERTRAND TAVERNIER, OPUS 3 ***** 1976. Co-written and directed by Bertrand Tavernier. Two French César awards (Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay) in 1977. This indisputable masterpiece depicts the strange relation between a judge and a mad anarchistic serial killer in 1898. In two hours, Tavernier manages to describe a period rarely seen in movies. The Dreyfus case, the strikes, the uprising of the socialist movement and the different stratums of the French society are all evoked in this film. A movie to rediscover. Now.
A Powerful Film Labelling this a "powerful film" must seem more than a little trite nowadays when accolades are thrown indiscriminately at unwatchable rubbish. But seeing it again on laserdisc and thinking about what to say made me wonder that such words have meaning only when praising such a film. Bertrand Tavernier made three films at the beginning of his career - "The Clockmaker" and "Let Joy Reign Supreme" being the other two - that were incisive, intelligent and challenging. That this film is probably the least known is just another of the absurd vagaries of foreign film distribution in the U.S. Watching the film is like listening to jazz when it had guts - there is a boldness and power that can only come from an artist who knows what he has to say and how he must say it.
The late Philippe Noiret, who gave so many great performances to Tavernier, plays a fascinating and quite unsympathetic judge who uses an obvious madman to make a name for himself - by sending him to the gallows. Michel Galabru, otherwise known for "La Cage aux Folles", is mesmerizing as the murdering vagabond. And a very young Isabelle Huppert plays the judge's ill-used mistress.
Tavernier managed to acquire what was to be the last collaboration of scriptwriters Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost, both in their 70s, who had suffered from the unwarranted attacks of Truffaut's film criticism. If nothing else, it showed the French once again what a brilliant team they were.
This film needs to be salvaged for DVD. My laserdisc player won't last forever!
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