On the edge of genres Lino Ventura has said that in his early roles he tried to "deromantize" criminals. In the film “The Transformation of the Lice”, Lino Ventura and director Pierre Granier-Defer coped with this task to the fullest. The picture balances on the verge of a detective in the genre of “noir”, lyrical melodrama and dark comedy.
The world is shown from the point of view of criminals, and of course the character of Lino Ventura (living “by concepts” criminal Alphonse) has charisma, intelligence, firm character and sympathizes with the viewer. However, then the director builds a labyrinth of life, where these concepts and stereotypes of behavior drive the character, and the viewer is given the opportunity to see the robber-loser Alphonse from the outside. At first, he appears to us as a bon vivant with an artistic taste, and life itself opens up prospects for him. However, the love of comfort and chic makes him look for easy and most importantly the usual ways from the series “stolen, drank, in prison”, so expensive paintings will be laid to the buyer for a pittance, the money earned is invested in the purchase of a useless thief’s tool, members of the criminal group will be cowardly and boastful incompetence (for which the golden 60s also open a lot of easy ways in life). It seems that love for a woman gives the hero the opportunity to start a full life anew, but this is not so simple here if you think and most importantly act according to the usual stereotypes.
The play of Irina Demick, Charles Aznavour and atmospheric music of Jimmy Smith frame and shade the talented play of Lino Ventura.
The film has a lot of frank social satire, so it can not be unequivocally attributed to the genre of “noir”, and at the same time the film is too serious and sometimes gloomy to perceive it as a comedy or parody of the detective genre.
Don’t let the specific name scare you away. The film looks quite easy, and at the same time it is not unambiguous - this is a double bottom picture, where the plot and each character will manifest themselves unpredictably.