Un assassin qui passe (1981) - film review

A lonely bachelor becomes obsessed with finding a lover.  However, every girl he meets he ends up killing.  Then he targets a well-known entertainer...

This is a very dark detective thriller which also serves as a moving examination of the psychology of an unwitting psychopath.  Richard Berry plays the disturbed murderer who is incapable of controlling his dangerous emotions in an inspired piece or casting.   Berry is rarely this intensely caught up in his character and he gives one of his most memorable performances.  The sheer hopelessness of his character’s lot is magnificently echoed by some stunning camera work which shows that he is as much the victim of his crimes as he is the perpetrator.

Jean-Louis Trintignant plays the charismatic and completely ruthless police inspector who is hot on the trail of the serial killer.  In a curious reversal of roles, his character is presented as the villain, even though he is, at heart, as lonely and as pathetic as the killer he is pursuing.

© James Travers 2000

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