Dir. Alain Corneau, 1979, France, 110min, 35mm
Starring Patrick Dewaere, Myriam Boyer, Marie Trintignant, Bernard Blier
Based on Jim Thompson’s novel A Hell of a Woman and the peak of the policier genre. The film replaces the honor codes and urban flare of earlier French crime films with a riveting atmosphere of unpredictable violence and suburban bleakness. Patrick Dewaere plays a door-to-door salesman lured into a get-rich-quick murder scheme after meeting a captivating teenager (Marie Trintignant). A searing mix of vulnerability and erratic brutishness in what Dewaere considered his best performance.