(Re)discover a classic detective film from the 80s which turns 40 this year.
“The scales don’t lie… in the ghetto, at the police station” sang Stomy Bugsy, and perhaps he was inspired by the film that will occupy us today, a feature film which won 3 Césars including Best Film and totaled 4.19 million admissions when it was released: The balance.
The 1980s saw a resurgence in audiences for French detective films. The latter have often been praised for their darkness and their realism, seeking to relate to the contemporary problems of the country. In reality, this movement began in the second half of the 1970s, with films featuring Patrick Dewaere such as Série noire (1979) or Le Juge Fayard (1977).
These films are more interested in the street and in gangsterism, not as a cinematic fantasy (as often with Melville), but as a reality that must be represented with veracity. Libra, which interests us today, is part of this movement, as evidenced by its story, co-written by the police officer Mathieu Fabiani:
Ariane Films, A2 Films Richard Berry and Philippe Léotard (Caesarized for the role)
The informant of the 13th Territorial Brigade was assassinated. Chief Inspector Palouzi (Richard Berry) absolutely must know in order to be able to safely recruit a new “library”, and investigate the actions of the boss Massina. Dédé (Philippe Léotard), a former lieutenant of the mobster living with a prostitute (Nathalie Baye), seems to be the right choice.
What stands out about The Balance when compared to other thrillers released before, is director Bob Swaim’s adoption of an extremely dynamic direction, with a moving camera that really gives the feeling of be in the room during interrogations, and in the action during arrests. If it may seem obvious today, at the time, The Balance was the film that had to be copied.
Ariane Films, A2 Films
Galia Salimo and Nathalie Baye
Just think of L’indic, released the following year, which uses the same principle, and the thriller wave is relaunched pell-mell: Bleu comme l’enfer, Police, L’Addition, Spécial Police or even Tchao Pantin, whose filthy atmosphere recalls that of La Balance.
Like a Jules Dassin in his time or closer to us the Martin Scorsese of Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Swaim turns in the streets, in the neighborhoods he depicts, to the point that one has the impression that the action of the film takes place on the spot, in our daily life, in our streets, in our lives.
Ariane Films, A2 Films
The street as it is
In France, there was a before and after La Balance, which was inspired by American detective films of the 1970s while transposing this model to the French situation in the Belleville district of Paris, as it was in the early 80s. And 40 years after its release, it has lost none of its interest and topicality.