Cible émouvante (1993) Directed by Pierre Salvadori
Comedy / Drama / Crime
aka: Wild Target
Film Review
The crime thriller has been a popular target for parody in France ever since the heyday
of the genre in the 1950s. Whilst Cible émouvante is an entertaining
film with many plus points, it adds little in the way of originality or style to what
has gone before it. The plot is infuriatingly predictable, the writer appearing
to take the obvious course at ever turn, and the film ends up appearing to parody itself.
Fortunately, the film is mercifully short and ends way before it could have become tedious.
The film's main strength lies in the wonderful interactions between the three lead actors.
Jean Rochefort, better known for straight roles as the archetypal hard man of the French
film noir (or 'polar') genre, shows an endearing flair for comedy and contributes most
to the film's great comic moments. Marie Trintignant is Rochefort's unlikely co-star,
less convincing but giving an amusingly feisty performance. Caught in the middle
is young Guillaume Depardieu (son of Gérard), often outrageously funny in his familiar
gawping way; female devotees of the actor will certainly not be disappointed.
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Pierre Salvadori film: Les Apprentis (1995)
Film Synopsis
Whilst fulfilling one of his contracts, hitman Victor Meynard is spotted
by delivery boy Antoine. Logically, Victor knows he should kill Antoine
as he is a dangerous witness, but he can't bring himself to do it.
Instead, he adopts the boy and trains him to become a professional killer,
despite Antoine's obvious lack of enthusiasm for this line of work.
The two men are then hired by Corsican gangster Casa Bianca to kill Renée
Dandrieux, a fraudster who has just conned him into buying a counterfeit
painting. For the first time in his career, Victor is unable to go
through with the killing. When Casa Bianca sends two of his best men
- Barnabé and Manu - to deal with Renée, Victor and Antoine
come to her rescue and the killers are disposed of. Renée is
quick to show her gratitude but Victor wins no praise from his tyrannical
mother for this act of kindness. In fact, when a contract is offered
by Casa Bianca to kill Victor, Madame Meynard is more than willing to execute
it herself...
From Jean Renoir to François Truffaut, French cinema has no shortage of truly great filmmakers, each bringing a unique approach to the art of filmmaking.
It was American film noir and pulp fiction that kick-started the craze for thrillers in 1950s France and made it one of the most popular and enduring genres.