Une robe noire pour un tueur (1981)
Directed by José Giovanni

Film Review

The 1970s in France saw a growing concern with social issues and orientation towards left-wing politics.  This was partly an inevitable response to the failed right-wing politics of the 1960s but also a genuine concern that France was appearing increasingly right-wing in relation to its European neighbours.  This was particularly true with regard to the death penalty.  Certain categories of murder carried an almost  mandatory death sentence (decapitation by guillotine) until 1981, when François Mitterand's first Socialist administration abolished the death penalty.  In the late 1970s, the death penalty was a major topic of debate, and this is something which is keenly reflected in the films of the period.

Another polemic which had a strong influence on French cinema of the 1970s was a growing public hostility towards social injustice and corruption within the main institutions.  The 1970s saw a number of high-profile scandals involving police, politicians and leading industrialists implicated in some atrocious instances of fraud and gangland activity.  Literature, television and cinema played an important part in airing these concerns and enabling the country to clean up its act.

The period from 1977 to 1981 is dominated by crime thrillers which see helpless victims trying to stand up to a flawed state which is manipulated by villainous politicians and corrupt law-enforcers.  This genre is often referred to as neo-polar, a clever mélange of contemporary social concerns with the popular format of the polar genre which was so popular in the 1950s and 60s.

Writer-director José Giovanni was one of a number of influential French film directors who established the neo-polar genre.  (Others include: Yves Boisset and Michel Deville). Une robe noire pour un tueur is not Giovanni's best film but it represents the genre well.  As a conventional thriller, it is pretty plodding and lack-lustre.  Its strength would most probably have lain in its relevance to a contemporary audience.

Claude Brasseur is a rare actor who can play hardened villains yet still arouse sympathy, a characteristic which makes him ideal for the part he plays in this film.  There are also strong performances from Annie Girardot, a tough nut if ever there was one, and Jacques Perrin, whom you can never quite make out which side he is on.

Like many films of its era, this film has not dated well.  It relies almost entirely on a cynical distrust of the police and the legal system for its impact and relevance.  However, although major scandals of the kind which inspired this film are less noticeable today, the film ought to strike a chord with a modern cinema audience, and the film's ending still has the power to shock.

Film Synopsis

Despite the best efforts of his lawyer, Florence Nath, Simon Risler is sentenced to death for killing a police officer.  Risler manages to escape the guillotine by taking a hostage, although he is injured by a gunshot during his escape.  Wounded and hunted by the police, he turns to his lawyer, Florence.  She contacts an ex-boyfriend and surgeon Alain to take care of his injury.  Risler agrees to go into hiding until he is recovered, staying at a farm where Alain lives with a group of young drop-outs.  Meanwhile, Florence comes across new evidence which exonerates Risler and implicates the police officer he shot in a major drugs trafficking operation.  Needless to say, this police officer was not acting alone and Florence faces some very powerful enemies from her own side...