Canicule (1984)
Directed by Yves Boisset

Film Review

With Canicule, director Yves Boisset pushes the crime-thriller genre in some unexpected directions and creates a work which is both original and unsettling, although somewhat less effective than some of his earlier hard-boiled policiers.  The rural setting, and Lee Marvin's presence, gives the film the feel of a classic Hollywood western, something which makes the film's level of violence slightly more acceptable than it might have been.

Many of Boisset's later thrillers (Espion, lève-toi, Le Prix du danger) have a bitter, twisted edge to them and this is certainly apparent in Canicule.  It is possible - though only just - to enjoy this film as a black comedy.  The situation is so bizarre, the behaviour of the characters so eccentric, that it is hard to take the film seriously if it were not intended as an overt parody or carefully contrived send-up of the American-style thriller.

There is also a serious side to the film, in that it implies there are no clear moral divisions between criminals and apparently law-abiding citizens.  The behaviour of the country folk, locked in their cosy little microcosm, is every bit as damnable as that of the ruthless gangster Jimmy Cobb.  But whereas the latter has a purity of intent that gives him a kind of heroic charm, the former are utterly contemptible because their nastiness seems to be without explanation.  Jimmy Cobb's presence on the farm does not corrupt the simple folk he encounters; instead, his arrival provides the catalyst which allows the worse side of their characters to assert itself, with disastrous consequences.  This is most apparent in the young boy Chim whose cynical manipulation of the situation at the end of the drama is the most worrying thing that Boisset has to show us.  It is a depressingly grim view of human nature but, sadly, it is not without a grain of truth.

Film Synopsis

Jimmy Cobb is an ageing American gangster whose attempt to raid a bank in Orleans goes badly wrong.  Pursued by the police, he manages to escape to the country with his ill-gotten gains, which he buries in a wheatfield.  He then hides out on a farm belonging to an attractive and seemingly good-natured young woman named Jesicca.  The latter offers to help Jimmy evade capture if he agrees to kill her aggressive husband Horace, whom she has grown to hate.  The farm is also home to Horace's equally odious brother Socrate and repulsive nymphomaniac sister Ségolène.  Then there is Jessica's son Clim, whom she adores even though he is turning into a wild and unpredictable thing.  Like Jessica, every one of these individuals is quick to take advantage of the gangster's presence on the farm.  Jimmy is blamed for the murder of two campers, even though Horace is the culprit.  Ségolène has amorous designs on him and Clim sees him as a ticket to adventure.  When the police finally do catch up with Jimmy, it might be a lucky escape...