Blu-ray Review: ‘Hardboiled: Three Pulp Thrillers By Alain Corneau’ Part 2
by Rachel Bellwoar
Some thoughts on the other two films directed by Alain Corneau included in Radiance’s box set. Be sure to check out part 1 of this review for more on Police Python 357.
Série Noire (1979)
Every once in a while you watch a film where what you’re watching isn’t the movie but one actor’s tour de force performance. Série Noire is such a movie and the actor in question is Patrick Dewaere. Having recently been enthralled by his performance in Mille Milliards de Dollars (which is available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber), I was excited to see him in another lead role but his performance as Franck is next level, can’t-take-your-eyes-off-him danger. Think Richard Widmark in Night and the City. Based on a Jim Thompson novel (which, if you’ve seen The Grifters, is another good sign – Corneau and Georges Perec wrote the adaptation), Franck should be your average, lonely sleazeball – balding with tobacco stained fingers, a literal door-to-door salesman. From the moment he dances on screen, though, you want to give him the benefit of the doubt. A character at constant war with his better angels, one of the first things we see him do is refuse to take advantage of a young girl, Mona (Marie Trintignant), who’s being pimped out by her aunt (Jeanne Herviale). It’s a don’t-judge-a-book-by-it’s-cover moment, but then we see how he treats his wife (Miriam Boyer) and maybe the cover’s spot on.
While Dewaere is never described as a “method actor” in the 2013 documentary that’s included on this Blu-ray, it doesn’t sound like he took care of himself either, both emotionally or physically (as in one scene where he headbutts a car). Not to be ignored, Trintignant is amazing in her debut role, showing the power in silence six years before Sandrine Bonnaire in Vagabond.
Besides the documentary on Série Noire, Radiance’s Blu-ray comes with archival director and cast interviews, as well as a new visual essay by writer and programmer Paul Martinovic on screen adaptations of Jim Thompson’s books. Turns out long before Martin Scorcese directed Killers of the Flower Moon, Thompson tried to get Hollywood interested in a treatment on the Osage murders.
Choice of Arms (1981)
Prison breaks never go off without a hitch, and if Mickey (Gérard Depardieu) wasn’t a killer before, he quickly adds murder to his rap sheet in Choice of Arms’ opening moments. Mickey and his cellmate, Serge (Pierre Forget), might’ve gotten away fairly unscatched, though, if it weren’t for a third member of their team (Jean-Claude Dauphin) who gets Serge shot.
Enter Yves Montand as Noel, an old friend of Serge’s who’s now in the horse business and uninterested in returning to a life of crime. Due to their history he agrees to take Serge in, and inevitably gets involved.
The main conflict is generational, as Noel and Mickey represent two schools of thought on being a gangster and it’s no secret that much of the film’s appeal comes from getting to see the old guard and new guard of crime film actors work together. Class resentment is also part of the mix and Corneau and Michel Grisolia‘s screenplay takes equal aim at the police, who make multiple mistakes during their investigation.
Unlike with Signoret in Police Python 357, Catherine Deneuve‘s casting as Noel’s wife doesn’t make the role any less thankless. Depardieu (who, it should be noted, at time of writing is on trial for sexual assault charges) is the most dynamic, bringing an athleticism and depth to the role of the goon who has a life outside of being muscle and seemingly surprises himself at times, but the film still occasionally drags in the same way Police Python 357 did.
Radiance’s Blu-ray comes with an archival documentary, a new featurette on Montand by writer and critic, Manuela Lazic, and an awkward on-set interview from 1981 where Deneuve is asked more about her kids and stance on abortion than the film. Also, Choice of Arms can be watched with an introduction by documentarian, Jérôme Wybon.
Hardboiled: Three Pulp Thrillers By Alain Corneau is available on Blu-ray starting April 8th from Radiance Films and includes a substantial booklet of essays.
