Le Juge Fayard dit Le Shériff (1977)

Le Juge Fayard dit Le Shériff is a French thriller film first released in 1977, directed by Yves Boisset.  The film stars Patrick Dewaere, Aurore Clément, Philippe Léotard, Michel Auclair and Jean Bouise.  It has also been released under the title: Judge Fayard Called the Sheriff.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


Jean-Marie Fayard is a judge charged with a dossier which implicates a wealthy industrialist in a number of unexplained deaths.  Although he is forcibly steered away from this affair by his superiors, Fayard’s investigation of another case ultimately leads him back to his original case.  Despite personal threats, Fayard is committed to ensuring that justice is done.  Unfortunately, he underestimates the power and influence of his opponents...

This is a hard-edged detective-thriller, in the style of a latterday western, which shows director Yves Boisset at his best.  He is well served by an excellent cast, headed by Patrick Dewaere, Jean-Marc Bory and Philippe Léotard.  The action scenes are well directed, well photographed and genuinely tense and exciting.  By contrast, the scenes between Fayard and his girlfriend have a touching warmth and humanity.  Boisset is one of the rare directors who can flip from the one mood to the other without compromising the integrity of the other.

Patrick Dewaere plays the central character, the intrepid Judge Fayard, and this really is his film.  It is a spirited and sensitive performance which leaves you in no doubt that this is one of France’s greatest actors.  The film’s ending is doubly tragic in that it reflects the futility of Fayard’s crusade, whilst reminding us of the actor’s own terrible death.

As the final caption at the end of the film wryly implies, Boisset’s motivation for making this film is quite clear.  The film was almost certainly inspired by the murder of a young French lawyer, Renaud, in the early 1970s.  Before his death, Renaud was investigating a case which implicated some high profile public figures in illegal gangland activities.

This hypocrisy in the French political landscape is something which still exists, and remains an obvious target for satirists and film-makers.  It is a theme which Boisset himself returned to in his later film, La femme flic.

© James Travers 2000

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