Nous sommes tous des assassins (1952)
Directed by André Cayatte

Film Review

In Nous sommes tous des assassins, director André Cayatte makes an extraordinarily powerful case for the abolition of the death penalty, and indeed goes some way to condemning the society and legal system which, through hypocrisy or ignorance, believes in the efficacy of such a punishment.  Not only does the film show us the terrible inhumanity meted out to condemned criminals, but it raises some incontrovertible moral arguments in opposition to the death penalty.  Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1952, this stands as one of the best political dramas of its kind.

Cayatte's background as a lawyer is apparent not just in the film's striking realism and detailed account of the legal system, but also in his meticulous, relentlessly analytical approach.  The entire film is presented as a defence for the anonymous condemned man or woman - not to excuse the crime that he or she has committed, but to persuade us that no crime, no matter how atrocious, can ever merit the ultimate sanction of death by guillotine, imposed by a totally dehumanised system of the State.

In stark contrast to his earlier literary adaptations, Cayatte's later films - of which this is probably the best example - are hard-hitting political dramas which reflect the director's sympathies for important social causes.  Even when practising as a lawyer, Cayatte was fervently opposed to the death penalty, and, when he became a filmmaker at the age of 33, he intended to make a film on that very subject (although he soon had to abandon the idea).

Even in 1952, when he came to make Nous sommes tous des assassins, Cayatte was ahead of his time.  It would be more than two decades before public opinion moved sufficiently for the possibility of abolishing the death penalty became a serious prospect, and it wasn't until 1981 that the guillotine was consigned to history for criminal offences (although it is still, in theory, in service for those who perform acts of treason against the French state).  Cayatte's film may not have had an immediate impact in the sense that France retained the death penalty for a further three decades.  However, it certainly raised the public's awareness of the issue and almost certainly influenced jurors and magistrates, who may have been subsequently inclined to show greater leniency and not impose the ultimate sanction when a lesser sentence would suffice.

Nous sommes tous des assassins is a pretty uncompromising film, in which Cayatte effectively places everyone of us - the whole of society - in the dock and attempts to convince us that we are as guilty as the criminals we condemn.  And his arguments are pretty forceful, indeed quite revolutionary for the time when the film was made.  Bad social planning, inadequate state provision for the poor, mental illness, the influence of World War II - Cayatte argues that a whole host of factors should be considered in determining the extent of a criminal's guilt - extenuating circumstances which, at the time, were largely ignored by a society that based its legal system on a misguided notion of an absolute morality.

Cayatte suggests that the main argument in defence of the death penalty - its effect as a deterrent - is flawed.  The deterrent idea is merely a smokescreen to create a false illusion that the state is actively protecting its citizens, whereas in reality there is scant evidence that the threat of execution will deter a criminal.  Cutting off a head here and there is unlikely to improve matters, anymore than killing an ill man suffering from tuberculosis will cleanse society of that particular scourge.  And what moral right does the State have to take the life of one of its citizens?  By doing so, are we not ourselves becoming the very thing we condemn - the murderer?  Perhaps we are worse than the criminal, for we use cold logic and an inhuman system to perform an act which the convicted killer perpetrated most likely in a moment of unthinking madness.  The ruthless brutality of the system that sends a criminal to his death is skilfully portrayed in the film in sequences which are shocking and unforgettable.

Cayatte's approach may be forceful, perhaps excessively demonstrative, but it is remarkably effective at instilling a sense of guilt in the spectator.  Anyone who still seriously believes that the death penalty has a place in civilised society should watch this film - preferably alone and in a darkened room - and reflect on what it has to say.

Film Synopsis

During World War II, a series of chance incidents lead an ill-educated young man, René Le Guen, to be recruited by the French Resistance.  When he is instructed to execute a traitor in the organisation, Le Guen finds himself transformed into a callous murderer.  After the war, he kills again - but this time justice is not on his side.  He is arrested, tried and sentenced to death.  As he languishes in jail, not knowing when he will be dragged away to the guillotine, he hopes that the President will give him a pardon.  To that end, his lawyer - a young idealist - attempts to show that Le Guen's actions were caused by the ills of society and that his execution will serve no useful function.  Will he succeed...?