Customer Reviews

Barocco [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani star in this suspenseful noir tale of black-mail, deception and murder.

A young woman (Adjani) convinces her ex-prizefighter boyfriend to accept a bribe to tell a lie that discredits a local politician. When the boyfriend is murdered, she is racked with guilt until she meets the killer (Depardiue - a dead ringer for the murdered man.

The murderer is now in hiding from his former employers (who will kill him too) and the police. He accepts the woman's need to "reinvent" him as her dead boyfriend - literally transforming his identity. But can love transform his soul as well?

Techine infuses the classic elements of film noir with a daring moral dimension breaking the shallow boundaries that enervate the multi-hide of lesser contemporary homages to the genre.

1976, 102 Minutes, French with English subtitles.

A really smart riff on Noir. Beautiful to look at, magical and deep, I really liked this movie and was so absorbed that I didn't spot the drag queen until the second time around. Adjani is incredibly touching and Depardieu treads the fine line between menace and vulnerability like a master. Boy, don't miss this one.

** 1976. Co-written and directed by André Téchiné. Three French César awards (nine nominations) in 1977. Cold and affected, BAROCCO is not the André Téchiné movie you should see first if you want to discover this director. You should rather try some of his more recent efforts like My Favorite Season or Strayed, movies which emit real feelings and are not as artificial as Barocco or THE BRONTE SISTERS shot right afterwards.

Idiotic plot, poorly directed, ridiculous dialog, and atrocious, inept acting. Was hoping for a bleak French political thriller or neo-noir film, didn't get it here. The scene of a news reporter covering the meeting of a candidate and Gerard Depardieu, the washed-up boxer, was like watching painfully boring French films. Decent washed-out, gloomy neo-noir cinematography but not enough to save this from being just another 3-star movie.