French Neonoir by Jacques Dere It seems a little tired of police militants Jacques Dere took up the story, which in all respects fell under the classic noir. A lonely, boring cop. A sexy woman who, in her accessibility, may well be the prototype of Katherine Trammel from Basic Instinct 39. A respectable erotic photographer. A toxic brother trying to elevate himself with his incest. Nobody is going to hide anything from the beginning.
The whole intrigue of the tape is built on seducing a boring detective. The depraved heroine of Charlotte Rampling not only imposes herself, but literally lures an embarrassing detective into her networks. The lady is quite adept at manipulating this man. The viewer sees this, and Michel Cerro’s clunkiness only reinforces the contrast. Everything in this game seems obvious. But is that true?
The picture highlights several bright moments. First of all, the viewer should remember the abundance of erotic scenes. Charlotte Rampling is apparently trying to influence men with her nudity. As she undresses, she shows her superiority and Michel Cerrot’s confusion only underlines the drama of the situation. There is a murder in the case.
These moments seem to anticipate ' Basic instinct'. Again, a sexually uninhibited suspect and a policeman squeezed by his complexes. It is worth recalling that Rampling later played in the sequel 'Basic Instinct' and the director of the original film Paul Verhoeven.
I appreciate how it turned out to be a walk on a deserted ocean beach. Rampling and Cerro were both enchanted lovers and experienced opponents. There was no tension between them, which was nevertheless present and which the environment showed: the ocean, the desert coast, the wind. In general, the usual tension for noirs in this tape is absent. Heroes try to cope with their contradictions, along the way solving the puzzle formed by the murder described in the tape. It is no coincidence that Jacques Dere often uses windows and mirrors to show the main characters, as if hinting at their closedness and some deceptive behavior.
To put it simply, then we have an erotic thriller with good acting work. The tension itself is present, but elegantly hidden by the director. Filmed a little later ' Basic Instinct' showed essentially the same intrigue, but the tension was just more obvious and dominated all the characters. Jacques Derais’s film is not well known even now. But with all this, the tape is quite well made, interesting and deserves a close look.
7 out of 10