Film Review
It was the immense success of
La 317e section (1965) which
led independent film producer Georges de Beauregard to invite director
Pierre Schoendoerffer to make his first, and only, genre film.
Too easily overlooked,
Objectif: 500
millions is one of the more respectable French heist movies of
the 1960s, a film that pays homage to American film noir thrillers of
the previous decade whilst also offering a sombre reflection on
contemporary France. It many ways, it is the odd man out in
Schoendoerffer's filmography, more stylised, more plot-driven than any
other of his films, but it does include some of his familiar motifs,
notably references to the atrocities and injustices of war.
Despite its recycled film noir and caper movie trappings,
Objectif: 500 millions is primarily
an incisive commentary on the way that war veterans are neglected, even
forgotten, once they return to civilian life. The film is very
much a forerunner of Martin Scorsese's
Taxi
Driver (1976), in that its central character, Richau,
superbly portrayed by Bruno Cremer, is bitterly disillusioned with his
war time experiences and cannot find a way back into normal life.
As the film's final sequence powerfully demonstrates, Richau (like
Travis Bickle) is incapable of putting his military past behind him,
and his civilian life becomes a personal combat that is no more than an
extension of his traumatic experiences in Algeria. Partnered with
Cremer is the stunningly beautiful Marisa Mell, a diva of the Italian
B-movie who, as she parades in front of the camera in her tight-fitting
catsuits and diving suits, cannot help looking like Emma Peel's sultry
twin sister.
The film's striking high contrast black and white photography
simultaneously evokes the early films of the French New Wave
(Schoendoerffer is clearly influenced by Jean-Luc Godard - note the
similarities with
Le Petit soldat) as well as
classic American film noir. In true film noir fashion, most of
the film takes place at night, the suffocating darkness brutally
pierced by blinding neons and car lights, the impression conveyed being
one of unremitting oppression and danger. The final showdown
takes place in a deserted seaside town that looks like the set of an
old Hollywood western, a crude but effective reminder that the film
noir thriller is only a variation on the western theme.
Pierre Jansen's jarring score is loaded with menace and, like a mystical
incantation, chillingly evokes the dark primal forces that are driving
the main protagonists to their inescapable doom. The last twenty
minutes or so of the film are unbearably tense, even though the outcome
is, by this stage, pretty obvious. Pierre Schoendoerffer wrote
the screenplay with Jorge Semprún, the latter's first
screenwriting credit. Subsequently, Semprún would become a
close collaborator of Alain Resnais and Costa-Gavras, on films such as
La Guerre est finie (1966) and
Z
(1969).
Objectif: 500
millions is far from being Pierre Schoendoerffer's best film,
but it is one of his most compelling and most beautifully crafted
works, a film with an important underlying social message whilst also
being a superlative example of French film noir at its most inspired.
© James Travers 2012
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Next Pierre Schoendoerffer film:
Le Crabe-Tambour (1977)
Film Synopsis
Paris, 1966. Richau, a former captain in the French paratroop
regiment, has just been released from prison after serving a term for
participating in an uprising during the Algerian War. He is
embittered by the way he has been treated and is ready to take revenge
against the man who put him behind bars, Douard. Unable to find
work, he is contacted by Yo, a young fashion model, who proposes he
helps her steal 500 million francs from a plane whilst in flight
between Paris and Bordeaux. Richau is not happy when he learns
that his enemy Douard is the mastermind behind the operation, but he
decides to defer his vendetta and agrees to take part in the
robbery. Once he has the money, he will deal with Douard in his
own time...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.