Il faut vivre dangereusement (1975)
Directed by Claude Makovski

Film Review

Il faut vivre dangereusement is a well-intentioned parody of the American film noir thriller, although, with its Grand Guignol killings, endless bedroom antics and surfeit of unsubtle erotica it has a distinctly French feel to it.  This was the one and only full length film to be directed by Claude Makovski, based on a novel by Raymond Marlot with a screenplay co-authored by Nelly Kaplan, who is better known for her work as an actress and director of some repute.  The film has its flaws - the uneven narrative and convoluted plot being the worst offenders - but it also has a certain charm.  The pairing of Annie Girardot and Claude Brasseur as an unlikely crime-fighting duo works surprisingly well and there some terrific jokes (of the laugh-out-loud variety) which seem to come at the most unexpected moments.  Perhaps not the best comedy thriller in French cinema, but Il faut vivre dangereusement is distinctive, unpredictable and mildly entertaining.

Film Synopsis

Once a police inspector in the vice squad, Richard Diquet now earns his crust as a private detective.  Presently he is concerned with the mysterious death of another detective, Edouard Lory, whose body appears to have been thrown from a train.  The police have no interest in Lory's death - from the packet of drugs they find on the corpse it is obvious he is the victim of a private vendetta between drugs traffickers.  As he carries out own his own investigation into Lory's killing, Diquet is contacted by a businessman, Murdoc.  Never one to turn down a client, Diquet accepts Murdoc's instructions to snoop on an attractive young woman named Lorraine, who turns out to be the mistress of Murdoc's brother, the successful industrialist Germain Badinget.  What begins as a straightforward assignment turns into something much more involved.  Finally it dawns on Diquet that he has been duped.  The purpose of his investigation is not to spy on Lorraine but to recover a priceless jewel...