Film Review
If Cambodian-born film director Boramy Tioulong had intended
Boulevard des assassins
to be a serious crime thriller he was either misguided or simply out of his depth.
The implausible plot and too-self-conscious-by-half mise-en-scéne help to make it resemble
a lame parody of the neo-polar kind of thriller that enjoyed some popularity in
France in the late 1970s, early '80s (the best example being probably Yves Boisset's
Le Juge Fayard dit Le Shériff (1977)).
The reasons for not taking the film seriously are too numerous to mention, but it's worth
mentioning a few. The rambling narrative which goes to great lengths to confuse the spectator
before revealing a staggeringly unsurprising
conclusion. The catchy but increasingly nauseating background score which remains
persistently lodged in your head for days after having watching the film, and which manages
to evoke the very essence of 1970s French cinema, to almost nightmarish proportions.
The excessive use of voice-over narration to explain, reiterate, and generally muddle
the plot - a device that should have been buried in the 1960s. Add to that a list
of characters all of whom are blatant stereotypes, and most of whom are portrayed with
mild disinterest by the cast, and you begin to wonder what Tioulong was attempting to
achieve.
In spite of all this, many viewers will take pleasure in watching this film, particularly
those with some familiarity with French cinema of the 1970s. It is not
so bad that it is unwatchable but it is easy to write it off as a lacklustre
made-for-television movie (not surprising, since
it is the only full-length cinema film made by Tioulong who was primary a TV film director).
Notable actors Jean-Louis Trintignant and Marie-France Pisier give good
entertainment value and, on the plus side, the cinematography
does at least make fair use of the South of France location.
© James Travers 2000
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Film Synopsis
50-year-old writer Daniel Salmon is in desperate need of a break when his latest
novel fails to sell. Coming in the wake of his messy divorce, this set-back
has badly shaken Salmon's confidence and he needs to get away for a few weeks.
With his publisher's blessings, he takes a working holiday in a town on the
French Riviera. Almost as soon as he sets foot in the town the writer can't
help thinking that there is something fishy going on. Intrigued by the disappearance of the girlfriend of the man whose flat
he is staying in, and by the mysterious death of an elderly woman who refused to sell
her land to a development company, Daniel decides to investigate...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.