Ouvert contre X...

"Ouvert Contre X" (1952) is a French mystery programmer that's cozy, talky, and heavy-going. It's loaded with belabored dialogue to pad the running time to feature length; things that could be said in one sentence are said in five. The film plays more like an unofficial entry in the Inspector Maigret cannon; it is even directed by Richard Pottier, who had already done a couple of official Maigret films in the 1940s. The mystery itself is far from mind-blowing in its resolution. ** out of 4.

...they are a nuisance to live with in a cell!says the abortionist to her mate ,a girl who claims she was arrested for something she has never done.Afterward ,the old shrew will give a bad piece of advice to her.

This scene in jail is probably the best of a rather undistinguished movie :the plot is not exciting,the whodunit is totally disappointing;the only thing which was not derivative(at the time) is the two-cop team,the "experimented" tough guy and the rookie,who will finally reveals himself smarter than his older colleague.This kind of characters is cliché to a fault now.The flashback is useless,the trick they use to confound the murderer as old as the hills.

The story is an investigation on a murder. From the beginning, the dialogues are very strong and punchy for every character, but especially for the policemen, and very especially for Yves Deniaud, so funny, just love him. And the director seems to have fun directing his actors with such caustic dialogues. The punchy dialogues by M.G. Sauvajon makes me think of dialogues by Michel Audiard. We even hear an expression used by de Gaulle during may 1968 and used the same year by Audiard for the title of his movie. I strongly recommend "Ouvert Contre X..." so entertaining.