Adieu, poulet (1975) - film review

In the French city of Rouen an election is overshadowed by a fight between the supporters of two of the candidates. In the fracas, a man is beaten to death and the killer then shoots a passing police officer.  The latter has time to warn his colleagues that the killer is Portor, a well-known thug whose brother is campaigning on behalf of law-and-order candidate Lardatte.  Commissaire Verjeat’s pursuit of Portor is hampered by Lardatte, for whom he has a personal dislike and misses no opportunity to humiliate. As a result, he finds himself with very little time to capture Portor, since he faces a promotion and a posting outside Rouen, which will take him off the case. Verjeat is certain that this is courtesy of Lardatte and his police contacts.  As if this was not bad enough, his sidekick, the eccentric Inspector Lefevre, implicates them both in a case of police corruption...

With its exciting action sequences, compelling plot and stellar cast, headed by two veritable icons of French cinema, it is not hard to see why Adieu, poulet remains one of the most highly regarded polars of the 1970s.  Heavily influenced by American crime-thrillers of the time - notably the Dirty Harry films - the French polar had by this stage acquired much greater realism than in previous decades, which meant far more graphic violence and more overt references to contemporary concerns over police corruption and political interference in the legal system.  The film’s depiction of a incorruptible maverick cop fighting against his superiors, who are all implicated in seedy political intrigue, closely resembles that seen in the second Dirty Harry film, Magnum Force (1973), with the superlative Lino Ventura proving beyond any doubt that he is France’s answer to Clint Eastwood.

This is arguably Ventura’s finest hour as the no-nonsense tough guy, the role with which he is most closely associated and in which he excels.  His is hardly a sympathetic portrayal - in one scene he is seen effortlessly turfing a group of Hare Krishnas into the street as though they were sacks of rubbish - and yet he exudes such moral authority that he completely monopolises our sympathy.  Whilst everything around him appears to be tainted with corruption, Ventura triumphantly emerges, in Dirty Harry fashion, as society’s avenging angel.  And what an inspired piece of casting to partner him with Patrick Dewaere, a rising young star who would become renowned for playing livewire rebels and misfits with a manic intensity.  Despite their very different acting styles, Ventura and Dewaere are two of a kind - charismatic, dangerous and unpredictable - you just cannot imagine a more perfect match of contrasting personalities in a French crime thriller.   With such a dynamic duo blazing across the screen, it is all too easy to overlook the film’s extraordinary ensemble of supporting players - Claude Rich, Victor Lanoux and Julien Guiomar - all supremely convincing as the three prime villains of the piece.

Given how slick and well-constructed Adieu, poulet is, it is surprising to learn that it was directed not by an habitué of the cold dark world of the polar (Jacques Deray, Georges Lautner, Henri Verneuil, etc.) but instead by Pierre Granier-Deferre, a filmmaker who had very limited experience of the genre.  Granier-Deferre had made one notable thriller before this - La Horse (1970) - but this was more a psychological drama in the French tradition rather than the full-bodied American-style police procedural that Adieu, poulet assuredly is.  Just as surprising is the fact that the taut and fast-moving screenplay was written by Francis Veber, who is renowned not for gritty thrillers but outlandish comedies, such as La Chèvre (1981) and Le Dîner de cons (1998).

What is most striking about Granier-Deferre’s oeuvre is its diversity - his films range from the oddball comedy thriller La Métamorphose des cloportes (1965) to cruel character studies such as Le Chat (1971). Granier-Deferre was a contemporary of the New Wave directors (Godard, Truffaut, etc.) but represented a continuation of the quality tradition, eager to build on what had gone before rather than rip up the floorboards and start afresh.  Many of his films were every bit as stylish, provocative and idiosyncratic as anything coming out of the Nouvelle Vague, but generally had far greater mainstream appeal, partly because he could attract the biggest stars in French cinema (Alain Delon, Jean Gabin, Simone Signoret, to name just three).  Whilst some of Granier-Deferre’s films can easily be written off as being too conservative, some, such as La Cage (1975) and Une étrange affaire (1981), are daringly innovative.  Adieu, poulet illustrates Granier-Deferre at his artistic and technical best - a hard-edged thriller à l’américain which was so popular that it helped to establish a new sub-genre in French cinema, the neo-polar - France’s version of the conspiracy thriller which expressed growing public concern over widespread corruption in high places.  Patrick Dewaere would star in one of the most successful and chilling examples of the genre, Yves Boisset’s Le Juge Fayard dit Le Shériff (1977).

© James Travers 2011

This French police drama focuses mainly on the politics of the police department and the often dubious relationship between police, criminals and politicians. What could be a routine docu-drama is enlivened by the contrasting performances of the no-nonsense Ventura and jester-like Dewaere. And there are also exciting moments like a siege of the city hall and an attempted arrest of Portor, which is ruined when Lefevre’s change falls out of his pocket!

© Mark Treuthardt 2003

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