Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

morrison-dylan-fan Despite seeing his name mentioned in connection with French cinema for a number of years,I've never had the chance to see a work from auteur Bertrand Tavernier. Getting set for a poll on the best films of 1981 on ICM,I took a look at French movies from the year,and was thrilled to spot to see Tavernier take on Jim Thompson!,which led to me flying the coup.The plot:1938-A French colony in West Africa.Being one of the few "symbols" of law and order in the colony,police officer Lucien Cordier shows a disregard for the powers which matches the state of his personal life,where his wife Huguette has invited a "fake brother"/lover round to live with them,and Cordier himself tries starting an affair up with Rose Mercaillou. Treating black people as lower than dirt, Cordier overlooks any misdeeds with the mere fistful of a bribe. Annoyed at two pimps questioning his power,Cordier asks for advice from fellow officer Marcel Chavasson,who tells him to "act forcibly" which leads to Cordier using a bit too much force in the colony. View on the film:Appearing in Cordier's life like a flower in the desert, Isabelle Huppert gives an impeccable performance as Rose Mercaillou,with Huppert giving Rose pointed petals which get burnt by the simmering Noir frustrations of Cordier. Keeping her other lover secret, Stéphane Audran gives a great, consistently changing performance as Huguette Cordier,whose flirting with the toyboy Audran turns to stone at the mere whiff of her husband Lucien. Stomping round the colony like a crusty warthog, Philippe Noiret gives a magnificent performance as Lucien Cordier. Wanting to do as little work as possible,Noiret gives Cordier an unsettling casual attitude to fights on the street,and signs of annoyance at even the suggestion of helping out black people in the colony. Taking officer Chavasson's advice, Noiret sands down to the Neo-Noir veins of Cordier,that are pulled with a friction over Cordier overstepping in the land.Dissecting the original US setting for a French African colony,co- writer/(with Jean Aurenche) director Bertrand Tavernier & cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn retain the Noir roots with a blistering evil under the sun atmosphere, that makes the sights of the local mob and Cordier gunning his own brand of justice clear to see,in the cold light of day.Shot on location, Tavernier seeps the Noir mood with the grit and dry blood of the colony in elegantly held tracking shots following Cordier's descent into vicious contempt.Moving from the Deep South of Thompson's book,the screenplay by Bertrand Tavernier and Jim Thompson takes the racism over to deepest West Africa,where the horrific treatment Cordier and the whites lash out cover the screen in Noir vile. Filling Cordier's hands with dirty money that gets him to turn a blind eye,the writers brilliantly chip away at Cordier way of life and unveil a nihilism that Cordier is unable to drop back into the water and hide from the colony pop 1280.

Aristides-2 As happens on occasion with subtitled foreign films I become confused and perplexed at what appears to be the discrepancy between what the characters are doing and/or involved with and what the subtitles have them saying. Such was the case in spades with Coup de Torchon. In this instance the result was to make the characters, particularly the main one, even less accessible as far as trying to understand why they/he did what they were shown doing. I gave this movie 2 stars because of this disembodiment. *I was told some time ago that if a foreign film (or an English speaking one) is not wildly popular when first released, but has something appealing that a distributor thinks might make a few bucks then, in some cases, the bottom line rule gets applied and the subtitling job goes out for bids to companies that don't apply standards that are usually applied to movies with more popular pedigree. Such might be the case with 'Coup de Torchon'.

MartinHafer I adored the first half hour or so of this film. Then, sadly, the film seemed to lose its way--mostly because the main character was practically impossible to understand or appreciate. To put it bluntly, his motivation and actions stopped making sense. BUT, as there are so many interesting elements to the film, it's still worth seeing...though it clearly misses the mark.The film follows the actions of an ineffectual policeman in French West Africa just before the Second World War. Lucien (Philippe Noiret) does nothing as sheriff but collect a paycheck and ignore crime. He is clearly a cuckold in regard to his job and his relationships. Crooks break laws and mock him and his wife openly carries on an affair with her 'brother' right in front of him. You really feel bad for the guy, so when out of the blue he begins paying these people back, you are thrilled--even when he begins, in some cases, killing people. The murder victims really do 'have it coming' and you want to see Lucien to get away with it.Later, however, the film gets pretty muddled. First, he ends up killing an innocent guy simply because he knew too much--and it was hard to feel sympathy for Lucien--particularly because before this you did like him a lot because he DID stand up for the black natives--though not obviously so. So, he went from a secret savior of the Africans to just another white !@@#$ and nothing more. Second, there were some allegorical religious elements that seemed incongruous. He began to see himself as like Jesus meting out retribution to evil-doers--but ended up looking more like Satan or the Angel of Death--or just a real jerk! This religious angle really just clouds the film--not enhances it. Third, I was a psychotherapist and psychology teacher and I STILL had a hard time understanding Lucien--his character, though interesting, made little sense and just confused me. With a bit of a rewrite, this could have gone from a good and thought-provoking film to a classic. Too bad--it did sure excite my interest.

Souscolline Bertrand Tavernier has taken the novel "TOP 1280" by Jim Thompson set in North Carolina and produced a riveting French film noir set in Senegal in 1938. At that time it was a French colony that exhibited similar social and racial patterns as in the American South. The use of color and humor add a new dimension to the genre. Tavernier in his comments about the film on the DVD talks about the change in the light in the late afternoon in west Africa. It becomes less intense so he uses pastel colors. Note the light blue walls and the pink shirt of Philippe Noiret who is superb as the village policeman Cordier. Isabelle Huppert who plays the mistress of Cordier with intensity and humor and the other actors make this a must see film. There is much humor in the film but be aware that there are many violent scenes. This is French film noir at it's best.