A deadly game of skill and resolve between Alain Delon’s police inspector and Jean-Louis Trintignant’s ruthless criminal
A highly effective detective film, based on a true story, that accurately transports us back to post-war France
Inspired by a true story centred around a renowned French police investigator from the 1940s. Alain Delon puts his considerable talent into his character, giving an immensely believable performance. Jean-Louis Trintignant is also extraordinary in the role of the killer: almost always closed inside a stubborn silence, but when he does open his mouth to speak shivers will run down your spine. Jacques Deray reaffirms himself as a highly skilled director able to breathe new life into the glorious tradition of the French detective film, with an accurate reconstruction of a Paris that has only just left the war behind and is still traversed by ghosts of the recent past.
Detective Borniche, hopeful of a long overdue promotion, is assigned to catch a dangerous criminal who has escaped from prison. Despite all his experience, this time he fails and the escaped killer returns to his murderous ways. Borniche must devise a trap…