Le Pull-over rouge (1979) - film review

In the South of France, a young girl is abducted and brutally killed.  A timid 22 year old travelling salesman, Christian Ranucci, is arrested and charged with the murder on the thinnest of evidence.  Despite a frenzied attempt by his mother and lawyers to prove his innocence, despite massive inconsistencies in the evidence against him, Ranucci’s fate looks sealed. Pressurised by public opinion, the French legal system is implacably set on executing Ranucci for a murder he may or may not have committed...

A low-key film in the mould of a typical late 1970s French néo-polar, Le Pull-over rouge makes a surprisingly powerful case against capital punishment.  Indeed, the film contributed significantly to France’s decision to drop the death penalty in 1981 - difficult to believe, but death by guillotining was routinely practised in France until the late 1970s.

The film is based on the novel by Gilles Perrault which recounts one of the worst miscarriages of justice to have occurred in France.  It was a classic example of trial by public opinion.  To avoid appearing weak and ineffective, the police and examining magistrates were obliged to deliver a guilty verdict, even if it meant being very selective over which evidence they used and possibly even fabricating evidence to support their version of events.

Le Pull-over rouge does not set out to prove or disprove Ranucci’s innocence - Serge Avedikian’s portrayal of the accused man is wonderfully ambiguous and the holes in Ranucci’s testimony are never fully resolved.  However, what the film does do, amply, is to convinces us that there is insufficient evidence for him to be executed.  As a result, this is a film which makes a compelling, if not incontrovertible, argument against capital punishment.

© James Travers 2002

Other notable French films which argued for the abolition of the death penalty include:
Nous sommes tous des assassins (1952)
Deux hommes dans la ville (1973)

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Captivating, indisputable, very impressive. Je regrette de ne pouvoir faire un plus long commentaire mais ce film est bien fait et fortemant impressionant. J’aime beaucoup le cinema francais!
(Dr. Rodica Friedman, Tel Aviv, Israel) 

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