La Nuit de Saint-Germain-des-Prés (1977) - film review

A private detective Nestor Burma has a rendez-vous with a jazz trumpet player in a cheap hotel, to recover some stolen jewellery.  When Burma arrives, the musician is dead, stabbed to death. At the instruction of his paymaster, Burma continues his investigation, in and around Saint Germain, the cultural hub of Paris...

The first film by the American director Bob Swaim is a heady cocktail of film noir, French existentialist philosophy and Left Bank jazz culture.  Despite a commendable performance by the celebrated actor Michel Galabru as the world weary detective Nestor Burma, this dry detective thriller is pretty standard fare, with not a great deal to commend it.

Overall a pretty lifeless, plodding affair, the film makes no great effort to involve its audience.  Apart from Burma himself, most of the characters in the film are two-dimensional caricatures, and there is hardly enough plot to sustain its ninety minute duration.  Despite this, Swaim’s potential as a director is evident throughout, and it is no surprise that Swaim went on to make much better films than this.

One thing to watch out for in this film is a fresh-faced Daniel Auteuil in one of his early film appearances.  It is a pity that his part in the film is overly downplayed, because his is probably the only character that has really has any interest value.  Auteuil’s chilling soliloquy at the end of the film is by far the film’s most memorable part and leaves us in no doubt that he is an actor of no mean calibre.

© James Travers 2001

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