Le Battant (1983)
Directed by Alain Delon, Robin Davis

Film Review

As producer, director, star and co-writer, Alain Delon makes an adequate job of this largely conventional French thriller. Although hardly a classic, this film is kept interesting by the twists and turns in the story.  As in many gangster movies, elements of loyalty, honour and trust are thrown in; elements that are not that common in real underworld life.

Delon plays his normal cool and detached self, but his charm and timing means that he can get away with it. Being in charge of the movie enables him to enjoy plenty of action and bed-to-bed women.  He also makes effective use of his co-stars.  François Périer could not be more of a Mafia don if he tried and Pierre Mondy delivers a lively Columbo-like performance as his police counterpart.  Anne Parillaud makes an appearance, some years before Luc Besson's Nikita made her a star.

This film is a battle of wills and generations: old veterans Ruggieri and Rouxel trying to manipulate Darnay into handing over the diamonds; Darnay using both sides to his own advantage; and a younger group of crooks led by Sauvat (Gérard Herold) killing off his friends and resources in order to trap him into a corner.  Look out for Richard Anconina as the young foot soldier whom Darnay shoots in the leg.  Anconina was to make an early career as shifty but sympathetic underworld types in this and other films like Tchao pantin (1983) and Police (1985).

Alain Delon dedicated this film to René Clément, a director with whom he had worked with previously. He also makes some veiled references to Le Samouraï (1967), the movie that brought him stardom: when Darnay meets Mignot in a disused flat it looks very much like that of Jeff Costello (the character played by Delon in Le Samouraï ).   Delon affectionately pats the old fridge, and there's even a close-up of Costello's birdcage.

Le Battant was also part of a mould-breaking period in the early 1980s.  As Delon points out in the film, French censor laws meant that sources of entertainment such as comics and films always had to show the thieves and crooks losing in the end.  But times are always changing, even censors. Does an anti-hero qualify as a villain? In the end, Darnay the thief and killer gets away in spite of the efforts of Rouxel the cop.

Film Synopsis

A fortune in diamonds is stolen and the jeweller killed.  Petty crook Jacques Darnay is jailed for the crime. Released on parole eight years later Darnay is well aware that he is being tailed by police and gangsters alike, both sides wanting to recover the loot. The consensus is that Darnay committed the robbery but not the murder. Unanswered questions include: where did Darnay get his information? who killed the jeweller? and where are the diamonds?  Darnay returns to Paris, intending to pick up the diamonds and flee the country.  But then his closest friends are killed and gang boss Gino Ruggieri hesitates in helping him. Times have changed: a new and more ruthless breed of crook has emerged.  Meanwhile, everyone around Darnay is being killed off, which means that police chief Rouxel is also onto him.