La Peau de torpedo (1970)
Directed by Jean Delannoy

Film Review

Towards the end of his long and illustrious career, director Jean Delannoy stayed clear of controversy and was content to turn out anodyne potboilers for a mainstream audience.   Whilst few of these films are particularly memorable, most are admirably well crafted and remind us that whilst Delannoy may not have been a particularly great auteur he was an extremely competent director.  La Peau de torpedo is one of the more enjoyable of his later crowdpleasers, a gritty spy thriller which, in common with much of Delannoy's work, was some years ahead of its time.

Based on a novel of the same title by Francis Ryck, La Peau de torpedo is worlds apart from the popular spy thrillers of the time, as represented by the James Bond and OSS 117 movies, which opted for a more tonge-in-cheek, comic-book approach.  Delannoy's spy movie is much more realistic, with far more in the way of graphic violence.  The film is superbly well-cast, with Stéphane Audran at her most formidable as the heroine with a murderously short fuse and a well-developed instinct for survival. 

Klaus Kinski crops up towards the end of this well-honed adventure as the unlikeliest hit-man, with Lilli Palmer doing her bit for women's lib as a hard-headed and even more heart-hearted spy-mistress.   The film is marred by an unevenness of tempo and a few unnecessary longueurs but it redeems itself with a tense and bloody denouement which reveals in its director a surprising sadistic streak.  La Peau de torpedo is by no means a classic, but it is a respectable example of its genre, one that anticipates the grittier action thrillers of the 1970s.

Film Synopsis

To everyone who knows him, including his wife Dominique, Nicolas Krestowics is a respectable antiquarian.  In truth, he works for an enemy spy ring and uses his work as a cover for his espionage activities.  After one such mission, Nicolas is ordered by his superior Helen to lie low, which means sharing an apartment with a woman he does not know.  When Dominique hears that Nicolas has been seen with another woman she immediately puts two and two together and trails him to his hideout.  In a fit of jealousy, she shoots her husband dead with his own gun and goes on the run.  She doesn't yet know that Nicolas' employers consider her a dangerous witness and have sent two trained killers to execute her...