Les Distractions (1960)
Directed by Jacques Dupont

Film Review

Before he began his very short filmmaking career, Jacques Dupont studied law but graduated from the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC), France's leading film school.  After a few short films and documentaries, Dupont made Les Distractions (a.k.a. Trapped by Fear), which drew on his wartime experiences in the French army after the Liberation.  Released in November 1960, this Franco-Italian production is based on a 1959 novel by Jean Bassan.  Despite its subject matter, the film did not encounter any censorship problems but was a box office flop.  The film's failure to find an audience caused Dupont to give up commercial filmmaking - he subsequently occupied himself as a political activist and documentarist.  A year after the release of Les Distractions, he was incarcerated for a short time at the Prison de la Santé in Paris for his involvement in a failed coup d'état to overthrow President de Gaulle, in April 1961, at the height of the Algerian War.

Les Distractions is totally anchored in the New Wave period because it is a film about the trendy youth of the 1960s, as seen by a young filmmaker.  Perhaps Jacques Dupont is trying too hard to imitate the big boys of the Nouvelle Vague.  It seems that he directed this film without any imagination.  The film could have benefited from a tighter screenplay and would certainly have had more emotional impact if it had focused more on Claude Brasseur's character.  Too much time is given to Jean-Paul Belmondo's amorous adventures, and his friendship with Brasseur (the most interesting part of the film) is not given enough space.  Even if rising star Belmondo appears well-suited for the role of the reporter Paul Frapier, his character is not as interesting as the one he played in Le Doulos or Classe tous risques.  By contrast, his co-star Claude Brasseur deserves far more credit and he turns in what is easily the most consistent performance as Laurent Porte.  Les Distractions is well-served by some very attractive actrices, including the English-Canadian Alexandra Stewart (seen in Lous Malle's Le Feu follet and Otto Preminger's Exodus), the Yugoslav-Italian Sylva Koscina and Eva Damien, not forgetting future sex symbol Mireille Darc (not blond yet) in one of her first parts before being revealed by director Georges Lautner in the major hit Galia (1965).

Film Synopsis

Paul Frapier is a reporter whose only preoccupations are his work, his car and girls. He is more or less in love with a cover-girl Vera but doesn't want any commitment. One day, he is called to the scene of the murder of a policeman. The killer is known as Laurent Porte and he is on the run. In fact, Paul has known Laurent since they were soldiers during the war in Algeria. Laurent saved Paul's life and they became friends but lost contact. Now Paul wants to pay Laurent back and will do anything to find him before the police...