La Dérobade (1979) - film review

Marie is trapped in a nightmarish life from which she cannot escape.  Her boyfriend bullies her and forces her to work for him as a prostitute.  When she tries to go her own way, without the protection afforded by her boyfriend and his entourage  of underworld thugs, Marie runs into even greater danger and yet more violence...

The subject of Daniel Duval’s film La Dérobade is certainly one which is worthy of exploring in a full-length film, to remind us of a sickening malaise of contemporary society, where women are forced into a hellish life of prostitution and dependency on dangerous pimps.  Such a film would have been welcomed by the critics and might even galvanise action against such unspeakable practices.

Unfortunately, the subject is so sickening in itself that it naturally invites a voyeuristic treatment.  This is the trap that director Daniel Duval appears to have fallen into, willingly or otherwise, and the result is far from satisfactory.

This is voyeurism with a capital V. A dangerous combination of erotica and graphic violence, this film is not just distasteful and shocking, it is plainly bad cinema, having the feel of a tacky porn video churned out by an unscrupulous porn peddler.  This feeling is reinforced by the fact that Duval himself plays the violent pimp who is one of the film’s lead characters, making the director open to the charge of complicity in his film’s subject.

The film does have some good points, most notably a strong acting performance from Miou-Miou, a part for which the actress won a César.  However, such strong production values are undermined when the audience is subjected to a constant series of scenes involving excessive exploitative nudity and sickening physical violence.  Far from condemning the world in which prostitutes are maltreated by their male predators, the film seems to exonerate it with an unsavoury, sadistic relish.

© James Travers 2000

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