Coup de tête (1979) - film review

Life in the industrial French town of Trincamp revolves entirely around the local football club.  When François Perrin is dismissed from the club for injuring the star player, his fortunes take a turn for the worst.  Shortly after losing his job, he is wrongly arrested for rape and sent to prison.  François’ is given a lucky break when the coach taking the football team to a key match crashes.  With several players injured, the president of the club has no option but to get Perrin released so he can play in the match.  Whilst out of prison, Perrin realises that the people who are depending on him to win the game are the very people who had him arrested on false evidence.  He decides to use the situation to inflict a cruel revenge on them all...

Coup de tête is a splendid example of the French social comedy, a witty, no-holds-barred assault on the ethics of the middle classes as well as a satire on that great working class obsession, football.    The film was scripted by Francis Veber, who has written or directed some of the best French film comedies of the last twenty years, including La Cage aux folles (1978) and Le Dîner de cons (1998).

Although there are a few moments of pure farce (most notably Dewaere stripping off in his boss’s office), the comedy is generally sophisticated, making this a fine satire on corruption and abuse of privilege.  The film is essentially a classic moral fable, showing that you can always get one up on your opponents without stooping to their level of nastiness.

Coup de tête is not just superbly written (with some side-splitting one-liners), well filmed and well paced, it also includes a great comic performance from Patrick Dewaere, arguably one of the greatest French actors of the 1970s.  Dewaere is ideally cast in the role of the rebellious but loveable Perrin and brings bucket-loads of humour and energy to the film.

© James Travers 2000

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