Comptes à rebours (1971)
Directed by Roger Pigaut

Film Review

Roger Pigaut made his screen debut as an actor in Claude Autant-Lara's classic melodrama Douce (1943).  He continued working as an actor for the next forty years, appearing opposite Brigitte Bardot in Georges Lacombe's La Lumière d'en face (1955) and playing the role of the pirate d'Escrainville in the final two instalments of the Angélique saga.  Ill-at-ease in front of the camera, Pigaut began directing his own films in the late 1950s, making a respectable debut with the enchanting Cerf-volant du bout du monde (1958), which inspired Albert Lamorisse's Le Voyage en ballon (1960).  It was fourteen years before he directed his next film, Compte à rebours (a.k.a. Countdown), released on 29th January 1971.

A solid, well-paced crime-drama, Compte à rebours tells the story of a vendetta that goes horribly wrong.  The subject matter is hardly original, and whilst Pigaut's direction is competent rather than inspired, every minute of the film is pure joy.  The crisp dialogue instantly evokes the colour of the 1970s and Georges Delerue's pounding score is the perfect accompaniment to the bloody countdown. 

The film's main selling point is its stellar cast.  A decade on from his appearance in Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Doulos, the actor-singer Serge Reggiani once again finds himself in a gangster's shoes; as ever, his performance is impeccable and the actor invests his character with enormous depth, making him as cool as a cucumber.  Here Reggiani is reunited with Simone Signoret, almost twenty years after their famous romantic liaison on Jacques Becker's Casque d'or (1952).  Signoret is well-suited for the part of Léa, turning in a heart-rendering portrayal of humiliation that is on a par with her other great performances of this time, in such films as Le Chat (1971) and La Vie devant soi (1977).

Another memorable screen partnership - that of Jeanne Moreau and Jean-Marc Bory in Louis Malle's Les Amants (1958) - is also revisited, with Moreau providing the one bright spark in another wise intensely sombre film.  Then there is the dazzlingly talented Michel Bouquet, excellent as the disturbing and Machiavellian Valberg, and monstre sacré Charles Vanel, who turns another scene-stealing performance as a paralysed old gangster.  Jean Desailly is an equally fine choice for the part of Dr Michel de Saint-Rose.  No French gangster film of their period would be complete without the familiar bad guys Marcel Bozzuffi and Andre Pousse, and other names to watch out for are Serge Sauvion (the actor who dubbed Peter Falk's Columbo for French television), the French Moroccan actor Amidou, the Swedish actor-singer Bob Asklöf and Joëlle Bernard (Pigaut's wife).

If revenge is a dish best served cold, Compte à rebours is a veritable banquet for Eskimos.  Thanks to its distinguished cast and slick production values, the film had no difficulty attracting an audience of 1.1 million on its original French release and is now available on DVD for us all to savour.

Film Synopsis

Revenge is the only thing on François Nolan's mind when he returns to Paris, having spent the past ten years in prison for his part in a bank robbery that went disastrously wrong.  A lot has happened in his absence.  His former mistress Madeleine is married, to Dr Saint-Rose, and his former criminal associates - Jebel, Zampa, Gi and Ferrier - now all lead respectable lives, enriched by the spoils of the robbery.  Nolan's sole preoccupation is to find who was responsible for his arrest and the death of his brother Pierre, who was killed during the robbery.  Nolan makes it understood that unless one of his four erstwhile gang members identifies the culprit he will kill each and every one of them.  This he proceeds to do, having taken care of a hitman.  Nolan is not the only one with a grudge, however.  In the violent shoot out between the police and the crooks, Valberg, the bank's insurance inspector, lost an eye.  He is as determined as Nolan that the torment inflicted on him should not go unpunished...