I... For Icarus

I saw this movie the first time about 20 vears ago, when I was a teenager. Quite shocking then, it now reveals some lacks, though it´s still one of my favourites. I saw it last week, after I recorded it (German version) from TV. The plot is very close to the JFK murder facts, and the authors didn´t want to hide that. Look for the names, "Daslow" becomes "Oswald" when You rearrange the characters. :-) The too long chapter concerning the psychological experiment (based on the Milgram experiments at the university of Yale) is a little bit out of place.

But for the rest ... but see Yourself, You won´t regret it!

Gerhard

of course, even though we are talking about a French movie here. It should quite obvious to anyone who saw the movie that the Dallas shooting at JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald are the starting point of the story.

One of the judges in charge of the inquiry (Yves Montand) decides he does not agree with the conclusions of the committee he is a member of. Then trouble begins...

One of Verneuil's best movies, if you ask me. The other ones would be "Le corps de mon ennemi" and "Peur sur la ville." (Belmondo rules, and so does Marie-France Pisier!).

Henri Verneuil was one of France's top movie makers and this film is a prime example of that. It is based on the JFK assassination but takes place in a fictitious country ( not France or America ) and treats the whole affair in great detail. Although the language of the film is French, the décors are deliberately impersonal and not typical of any country or indeed typical of all countries (!! if you see what I mean ) Yves Montand is excellent as the investigator, I find this kind of role suits him well just as in Police Python 357 - a solitary man making tendious and throrough investigations The film is constructed in such a way that you never get bored even through the phsychological test sequence which is admittedly a little over long. The film has not been shown on French TV for some time and is not available on DVD here but I see Police Python 357 appears recently on DVD so I 'm sure that I comme Icare will surely follow suit.

Highly memorable, intelligent and suspenseful movie from one of French movies' true geniuses, the formidably able Henri Verneuil. The plot is an exact parallel of the JFK assassination, and takes place in a non-descript, fictional country. The film, visually as well as plot-wise, is razor-sharp. Shot with meticulous precision, it follows Henry Volnay, the Procuror who takes on himself to unravel the coup. In many ways, it's a very disturbing movie, not the least for the cold and analytical precision of its comment on a so-called modern state's inner workings. The atmosphere and characters are all utterly believable, and Verneuil left nothing to chance in its tight plotting. On another level, this relatively little-known movie just had a 15 years head-start on Oliver Stone, who was acclaimed for the "JFK" movie, a inferior film in many areas, the least of which not being credibility...

It's a masterpiece, any cinema lover should see it, preferably in its original French version with subs.

The first time I saw this film, I was in shock for days afterwards. Its painstaking and absorbing treatment of the subject holds the attention, helped by good acting and some really intriguing music. The ending, quite simply, had me gasping. First rate!