S’en fout la mort (1990) - film review

Jocelyn and Doh are two illegal immigrants from Africa who work for a disreputable restaurateur Pierre Ardennes, training cocks to fight in an illicit gambling hall just outside Paris.  The two men live in a cramped basement with their stock of birds, and Jocelyn forms a strong bond with one of his birds, whom he christens “S’en fout la mort”.  In the end, the cruelty of watching his protégées being mauled in the cock-fighting ring gets to Jocelyn and provokes a dramatic outcome...

S’en fout la mort, Claire Denis’ third film, is simultaneously an eye-opening account of an illegal gambling activity (cock-fighting has been outlawed in Europe for some time) and also a sobering reflection on modern civilisation.  The cock fighting scenes are truly awful to watch, but it is the de-sensitised complacency of those that participate in this activity which is far more shocking.

Most of Denis’ films have an important social message, making her unique, often demanding, brand of cinema relevant to a modern audience.   The moral which emerges from this film is the extent to which our social, economic and technological advancement has not been accompanied by an increase in our collective humanity and compassion.

The lot of the two black brothers in the film is scarcely better than that of the birds they are training, and the bond between them and their birds is more tangible than any attachment to anyone else. Jocelyn and Doh are outsiders who have no place in the society they serve, and Claire uses them skilfully to show us the moral depravity and spiritual emptiness of the world we laughingly call civilisation.

S’en fout la mort is not an easy film to watch, and resembles more a fly-on-the-wall documentary than a conventional drama, lacking the artistic flair of Denis’ subsequent better works.  However, it is an intelligent and thought-provoking film which makes some valid albeit discomforting statements about our society’s attitude towards life.

© James Travers 2000

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