Serie Noire

One of the most original film experiences of the 70s is certainly French. Série noire is distinctive in its narrative and the form is never overwhelming the content.

Although most of it seems improvised, it is always surprising to learn that all of it was written down to the last word by Perec.

The most fascinating aspect of this movie is the angle of "harsh realism" that Corneau chose to tell the story. No external music is polluting the grimy atmosphere depicted with true to life colors and textures. And yet, it is one of the most romantic movie - in the purest form of the genre - that one can wish for.

And how can anyone not be touched by the late Patrick Deweare acting. It has been said that this movie took such a toll on the actor that some are almost suggesting that it was the starting point of his depressive state. It is truly a very moving, strong performance, full of surprise and nuance, almost so strong that it is unbearable to watch.

For those who are searching for a new kind of film making and acting, Série noire is certainly one of the best movies to provide such an experience.

There is in this movie one of the best scenes ever to be seen on. Deweare is outside on a parking place, in the night in the city. He shouts etc. About love. I don't remember exactly what he says, but the sadness, lostness, despair and loneliness in the city that he is expressing, the image this scene is offering has been one of my main inspirations for my artwork. This movie makes me really cry, so much it touched me in my heart. It is like a religious experience, this image of estrangement in modern lost times in the city.

Unique, that's the only way to describe this movie that is absolutely impossible to put in any category...it has a very very special atmosphere, which I have never seen before. Patrick Dewaere is purely awesome, outstanding, one of his best roles, unforgettable, for this adaptation of a Jim Thompson's novel that I have never read. The opening scene, with Dewaere doing calisthenics with a very old fashioned and bizarre music, this scene announces and summarizes the whole movie. Not a drama, not a crime movie, not a comedy, simply something unique. Alain Corneau makes here something that looks like a Bertrand Blier's film. Everything, characters and situations, is sordid here, everything. It's a nasty losers story, emphasized by the settings and music.

Jim Thompson wrote dark thrillers that were turned into some superb films (The Getaway-Peckinpah, 1972; Pop. 1280, as Coup de torchon-Tavernier, 1981; The Grifters-Frears, 1990). In 1979, Alain Corneau took A Hell of a Woman and made Serie noire, one of the most remarkable French crime films. The tone is very bleak, and there is a strong element of surrealistic humor. Georges Perec co wrote the script and he contributed many nonsense words and phrases to Frank Poupart's role

Frank is a small time salesman in a Paris industrial suburb who supplements his meager earnings by stealing from his boss, Staplin. The latter has Frank tossed in jail, whereupon Mona, the seventeen-year-old girl Frank's fallen for, pays Staplin to have Frank released. Mona's aunt, who has been prostituting the girl to the neighbourhood men, now becomes a tempting target for robbery.

Marie Trintignant has made five pictures with Corneau; she has a dark, brooding quality (big black eyes) that is perfectly suited to this story. She plays the part of guardian-angel-cum-slut wonderfully. Bernard Blier is Staplin, the oily, dishonest boss to a T. Andreas Katsulas has a ball with his character, a guy so dumb you don't know how he functions in this world. Patrick Dewaere, who was to kill himself only three years after making the film, is astonishing as Poupart. Just look at the desperation behind the cool exterior, the wild things he does--smashing his head against the hood of his car, or almost drowning in the bathtub. There is a savagery about his work that you don't find in other French actors.

I seem to be on something of an Alain Corneau binge, somewhat by accident. (These films were all recently added to kanopy...) Corneau is certainly not a one-trick pony, as his work spans an incredible range. This creation offers the ultimate noir de noir: super dark, bleak, depressing, yet somehow compelling at the same time. Quite well constructed and reminiscent in some ways of both the Coen brothers and Lina Wertmuller... I would not, however, characterize this film as a comedy. A bit too dark for that...