Credits
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Summary
Once a regular cop, Choucas now works as a private investigator, using methods his former
colleagues would revile him for. One day, he receives a visit from an old lady,
Madame Pigot, who asks him to look into the disappearance of her blind daughter.
Choucas accepts the apparently anodyne case but soon finds he may be in for more than
he bargained. First he is assaulted by a mysterious stranger and then Madame Pigot
is shot dead just before she can give him vital information relating to her daughter.
Then, when he is set up for killing a police commissioner, Choucas realises that he has
been caught up in a very deadly game of cat and mouse. But who are his opponents
and why are they so keen to have him killed…?
Review
Iconic actor of the 1970s, Alain Delon turned his hand to directing in the 1980s, starting
with this conventional action-packed policier in which he – not surprisingly – took the
leading role. Having previously starred in a dozen or so crime-thriller films,
Delon would seem ideally placed to direct such a film – particularly when he had previously
served under such distinguished masters of the genre as Jean-Pierre Melville, Jacques
Deray and José Giovanni. Delon the film director is not nearly as impressive
as Delon the actor, but Pour la peau d’un flic is a respectable debut effort, and
actually makes rather a good policier for its time.
Starring alongside Delon in this film is the young Anne Parillaud, a decade before she would become a cult figure for her leading role in Luc Besson’s thriller Nikita (1990). Parillaud and Delon work together well, each bringing an unexpected self-deprecating sense of humour – a side which is rarely seen in Delon’s films (presumably because his directors thought it might tarnish the tough Delon image). Although the film is generally well structured, it does ultimately get a little tangled up in its exposition – a fault typical of many French thrillers of this époque, as screen writers attempted to be even more clever with their plots. Fortunately, there are plenty of treats to keep the spectator of average intelligence engaged and entertained – a charismatic male lead, a sexy female sidekick, a spectacular nocturnal car chase and, of course, loads of gratuitous body pulverising violence. © James Travers 2003 Write a review for this film... User Comments
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