Les Risques du métier (1967)
Directed by André Cayatte

Film Review

Such is the public opprobrium attached to paedophilia that it is inconceivable that any of today's high profile celebrities would even consider playing the part of a suspected child rapist on screen. In a more innocent and less hysterical era, the popular Belgian singer Jacques Brel did just that, courting controversy in his first film role whilst revealing an unsuspected talent as an actor. Brel's character appears to have been fashioned after John Proctor in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, a man whose reputation may well be destroyed by the testimony of the schoolgirls in his charge who insist that he raped them. It is interesting to speculate what led the singer to lend his support to such a provocative film, although he was never the most conventional of individuals. As it turned out, the film was a critical and commercial success, attracting an audience of three and a half million in France and establishing Brel as a serious film actor.

Les Risques du métier is a film that is perhaps even more pertinent today than it was when it was made. Today it is a fairly common occurrence that reputations are destroyed by the false testimony of a supposed victim of a sex crime with whom the media and public are naturally inclined to side. Director André Cayatte warns of the dangers of this 'lynch mob' mentality and shows us the human cost, in the devastation it wreaks on an innocent party, ruining not just his reputation and career prospects, but also his faith in human nature. Cayatte previously directed a series of films attacking the failings of the French judicial system, including Justice est faite (1950) and Nous sommes tous des assassins (1952), but he later broadened out to tackle more general social themes - in Mourir d'aimer (1971) he relates the true story of a schoolteacher who was imprisoned for having a relationship with one of her students.

Adopting the trapping of the classic French polar, Cayatte crafts a compelling and suspenseful drama that keeps us guessing right up until the end. Bleaker in tone than much of Cayatte's work, Les Risques du métier owes its authenticity to the harrowingly convincing performances from Brel and the actresses playing the girls he is alleged to have molested. After this remarkable debut, Jacques Brel would show himself equally at home in comedy and drama in subsequent films, including the gritty gangster film La Bande à Bonnot (1968) and classic comedy L'Emmerdeur (1973). His efforts as a director (Franz, Far West) are, sadly, somewhat less impressive.

Film Synopsis

Jean Doucet and his wife Suzanne both teach at a school in the small Normandy village where they have lived peacefully for some years.  Their harmonious existence comes to an abrupt end one day when one of Doucet's pupils - 14-year-old Catherine Roussel - accuses him of attempted rape.  After the girl's parents have made a formal complaint to the authorities, Inspectors Lambert and Michaux look into the matter and are soon told by another pupil that, on the day of the village fête, a girl named Hélène Arnaud was seen walking away in Doucet's direction. Under intense questioning by the police, Hélène finally reveals that she has been her teacher's mistress for some time, an allegation that Doucet fiercely refutes. 

When another girl, Josette, comes forward and admits that her teacher had attempted to seduce her, the police have no choice but to take Doucet into custody.  Convinced of her husband's innocence, Suzanne sets about trying to clear his name by herself.  It soon becomes apparent that there is no substance to any of the statements made by Doucet's young accusers.  He is simply the victim of a community that is too willing to believe the false testimony of those whose innocence appears to be beyond dispute - vulnerable little girls who must be protected at all costs...