Watches
February 25, 2024
I went in with relatively low expectations (found it on a noir list), but this turned out to be pretty amusing. It's a rather crude film, much of the dialogue would never cut it today, but Philippe Noiret's performance saves the film. He's a hilarious character and he's a joy to hang around with.
Lucien is a cop in a small village in Senegal. His wife talks down on him, the villagers have no respect for his authority, and even his mistress only hangs around him to better herself. Even though Lucien has a pretty comfy life, he is fed up with being disrespected, and he figures it is time to throw his life around.
It's a film that should probably sport some trigger warnings, but if you can see it in its time it's not hard to spot the (crude) comedy. Noiret is delightfully passive, the rest of the cast is on point too, and the presentation, while not too memorable, benefits from a nice digital cleanup. A bit long, but enjoyable.