Avec la peau des autres (1966)
Directed by Jacques Deray

Film Review

By the time he came to direct Avec la peau des autres, Jacques Deray had already shown promise as a thriller director, notably with his location-filmed sophomore offering Rififi à Tokyo (1963), but he had some way to go before he would win over a mainstream audience.  With the bankable Lino Ventura taking the lead role in a lavish production filmed in Vienna, Deray's fourth feature should have been his ticket to mainstream success, but a lacklustre script from José Giovanni (usually a dependable contributor to this kind of film) and a lack of inspiration on Deray's part ensured a lukewarm reaction from both critics and audience.  It would not be until his first collaboration with Alain Delon, La Piscine (1969), that the director would have his first substantial hit.  Thereafter, he became one of the driving forces behind the immensely popular French policier of the 1970s, with films like Borsalino (1970) and Flic Story (1975) earning him a special place in the pantheon of esteemed mainstream directors.

Adapted from a spy thriller novel by Gilles Perrault, Avec la peau des autres is a humdrum affair that shows little of the visual flair and intensity of Deray's later films.  Ventura, now a big star after his appearance in films such as Le Gorille vous salue bien (1958) and Classe tous risques (1960), carries the plot along almost by force of charisma alone, but, lacking a well-developed character, there's a distinct lack of substance to his performance.  Jean Servais has come a long way since his career high point in Jules Dassin's Du rififi chez les hommes (1955) - now he is reduced to playing clichéd second roles in bland fare such as this.  There's not much to write home about in the rest of the supporting cast.  The only cast member to shine in this grimly anaemic plod-a-thon is Jean Bouise, who brings an unerring depth and authenticity to his role - as he would do in many subsequent hard-edged thrillers of the next decade.

If you have enough stamina to endure its dawdling pace, mechanical plotting, lightweight acting and distinct lack of originality, Avec la peau des autres is not entirely without appeal.  The story, whilst over complicated, is one that holds the attention and there are moments when Deray's creativity comes fleetingly to the fore.  Ventura's presence gives the film more muscle than it evidently merits and the photography, whilst not in any way stylish, is appropriate for a low-key thriller and conveys at least a suggestion of building menace.   But let down by a weak script, insipid direction and - to cap it all - a score from Michel Magne that feels ludicrously out of place, this really is a hard film to get excited about.

Film Synopsis

Once it is discovered that there is a leak in his organisation, French security agent Pascal Fabre travels to Vienna to investigate the possibility that France's spy network has been infiltrated by enemy agents.  His first point of contact is his old friend Margery, who discloses his fears that he is being closely watched.  Margery's obvious concerns are borne out when, not long afterwards, he is suddenly abducted and taken away to be tortured by agents of a foreign power.  His attempts to find his friend proving fruitless, Fabre realises that he is up against the most formidable of opponents: the Soviet military.  Identifying the double agents in Margery's spy ring proves to be a more difficult and dangerous task than Fabre had imagined...