This film is not a great one, not a complete take on what is anyway, a vast subject for debate. However it's a worthwhile attempt and one which succeeds far more than many others have on vastly superior budgets.
Alain Delon and his lack of development is perhaps the greatest let down in this film, his companion, for some of the film, Michael Duchassoy, would infact have made a better casting choice as ghe psychiatrist, with Delon performing better as detective. Jean Yanne, as always is a magnetic presence, reminding me here a little of Peter Sellers.
The film itself is a bleak look into the depths of an ordinary, yet extreme human being and the depravity he will go to in order to gain recognition, a sure precursor to where we find ourselves now, in the age of social media. The first part of the film sets the character of Louis up, with his side kick and his plan and works convincingly. The second tranche is where the action occurs and doesn't live up to the hopes of the first, the relationship between Delon and Yanne remaining largely unexplored. The final scenes at the theatre where the TV show is filming lack tension and the plot itself is, of course unable to provide that. That is the point, Louis is not a terrorist and that is perhaps the film's sucker punch, he is an everyman of sorts.
Alain Delon and his lack of development is perhaps the greatest let down in this film, his companion, for some of the film, Michael Duchassoy, would infact have made a better casting choice as ghe psychiatrist, with Delon performing better as detective. Jean Yanne, as always is a magnetic presence, reminding me here a little of Peter Sellers.
The film itself is a bleak look into the depths of an ordinary, yet extreme human being and the depravity he will go to in order to gain recognition, a sure precursor to where we find ourselves now, in the age of social media. The first part of the film sets the character of Louis up, with his side kick and his plan and works convincingly. The second tranche is where the action occurs and doesn't live up to the hopes of the first, the relationship between Delon and Yanne remaining largely unexplored. The final scenes at the theatre where the TV show is filming lack tension and the plot itself is, of course unable to provide that. That is the point, Louis is not a terrorist and that is perhaps the film's sucker punch, he is an everyman of sorts.