I am surprised that no one has yet noticed the many elements in common between this film and TCHAO PANTIN. Same district of Paris, same atmosphere and nearly same topic. A simple citizen, owner of a bar, who gets involved in drug traffic because of the death of a petty drug dealer whom he had a friendly relationship. Only the female character - the victim's sister - is different from the Claude Berri's feature. Excellent drama with many things belonging to the crime or noir genre. Pierre Salvadori brought us later DANS LA COUR, also a scheme of characters living around a specific place. Here it is question of a Paris district, where everyone knows every body, and in DANS LA COUR, it was question of a backyard between old buildings. In both films, we deal with a study of relationships between interesting characters.
Review of Les marchands de sable
