Folle à tuer (1975)
Directed by Yves Boisset

Film Review

After helming two highly controversial films - L'Attentat (1972) and R.A.S. (1973) - director Yves Boisset must have felt he was on somewhat safer ground with this more conventional thriller, taken from a novel by the popular crime writer Jean-Patrick Manchette. Folle à tuer certainly isn't Boisset most original film and it clearly has no other motive than to entertain a mainstream cinema audience (whereas his two previous films had an obvious political axe to grind). It's a return to the kind of well-paced, gutsy thriller with which Boisset began his career (Cran d'arrêt (1970), Un condé (1970)), except that this time a feisty female is in the driving seat, namely Marlène Jobert.

Jobert was by this time at the height of her popularity, eagerly sought after by filmmakers after she had garnered considerable acclaim for her star-making performances in Guy Casaril's L'Astragale (1969) and René Clément's Le Passager de la pluie (1969). In Robert Enrico's Le Secret (1974) she showed a particular aptitude for ambiguous character portrayals, which is presumably what led Boisset to offer her the lead role in his film - a woman teetering on the brink of insanity as she tries desperately to convince herself and others that she is sane. Jobert's arresting performance (with strong supporting contributions from Michael Lonsdale, Jean Bouise and Victor Lenoux) makes up for the somewhat far-fetched plot and an obvious paucity of character depth. Compared with Boisset's next thriller, Le Juge Fayard dit Le Shériff (1977), Folle à tuer is pretty shallow, but its relentless pace keeps us hooked from start to finish. The overture to Verdi's Force of Destiny is well-chosen to complement the film's melodramatics, although why Claude Berri would choose to use the same theme for his Jean de Florette (1986) is mystifying.

Film Synopsis

After spending five years in a psychiatric clinic, Julie Ballenger seems to have made a full recovery and gladly accepts an offer of work from the rich businessman Mostri.  Without delay, she takes up the post of governess to Mostri's nephew, a boy who is heir to a vast fortune following the tragic death of his parents.  Julie and Thomas are visiting a park in Saint-Cloud when they, along with Mostri's faithful chauffeur Georges, are kidnapped at gun-point.  They are taken to a deserted quarry, where Julie is forced to write a ransom letter to her employer in which she threatens to kill herself and the boy in her care unless she receives a large sum of money.

It is now that Julie suddenly realises that Georges is in cahoots with the kidnapper.  As these two get wrapped up in an argument, Julie manages to slip away unobserved with the boy.  In her escape, she has to evade capture by not only a ruthless hitman, but also the police, whom she fears just as much.  Julie's mad flight to safety takes her to Mostri's second home in the south of France.  It is here that she and Thomas make a terrible discovery - the boy's uncle was complicit in his abduction.  The motive soon becomes apparent...