Every day, AlloCiné recommends a film to (re)watch on TV. Tonight: a cult thriller with Jean Gabin.
In 1968, Georges Lautner directed Le Pacha, for which he co-wrote the screenplay with his regular collaborators Michel Audiard and Albert Simonin, based on the homonymous novel by Jean Laborde.
Headliner, actor Jean Gabin himself solicits the services of Serge Gainsbourg, with whom he has already worked on Le Jardinier d’Argenteuil, to compose the film’s soundtrack and appear in his own role. Known at the time for his talents as a songwriter, Gainsbourg was still struggling to find success as a singer. The title “Requiem pour un con”, which serves as the credits, changes the situation.
Indeed, before its theatrical release, Pasha goes before the censorship board, which is sickened by his violence and his negative image of the police. “Requiem pour un con” also attracts the wrath of censors, who consider the lyrics “obscene and scandalous”. The prohibition of the song on the radio waves provoked the anger of Jean Gabin, who did not fail to inform the Minister of the Interior at the time, Christian Fouchet.
For his part, Georges Lautner does not allow himself to be dismantled and, after a new editing attenuating the brutality of the main character, the film goes from a ban on those under 18 to a ban on those under 13. And, proof that the public was not unduly shocked: the 2 million entries recorded.
With an average viewer rating of 3.8 out of 5 on AlloCiné, Pasha is a good old-fashioned French thriller, resting, in addition to its rowdy soundtrack, on the charisma of the monolith Jean Gabin and on the dialogues, always incisive, of Michel Audiard.
Pasha by Georges Lautner with Jean Gabin, Dany Carrel, Jean Gaven…
From 10 years old
Tonight on W9 at 9:05 p.m.