The interrogation

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Movie
German title The interrogation
Original title Guard à vue
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 1981
length 86 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Claude Miller
script Claude Miller,
Jean Herman ,
Michel Audiard ,
John William Wainwright (novel)
production Georges Dancigers ,
Alexandre Mnouchkine
music Georges Delerue
camera Bruno Nuytten
cut Albert Jurgenson
occupation

The interrogation is a 1981 film by French director Claude Miller . The thriller is based on a novel by British writer John William Wainwright and was produced by the film studios Les Films Ariane and TF1 Films Productions .

action

The film's plot is limited to the hours between New Year's Eve and the following New Year's morning. The respected notary Martinaud has come to the Cherbourg police station to answer a few questions from the investigating officers. About a month earlier, two little girls had been raped and murdered in the city within a few days. The film begins with the arrival of the experienced policeman Gaul, who is supposed to question the notary, while his young colleague Belmont is recording his answers. However, it does not stop at a few additional information, rather a verbal exchange of blows develops between Gaul and Martinaud, in the course of which it becomes increasingly clear that Gaul sees in Martinaud not just a witness, but a suspect: he had while walking his neighbor's dog discovered one of the victims and parked his car in the immediate vicinity of the other crime scene.

Although the notary, dressed in an elegant tuxedo , hardly owes an answer, his home-style facade gradually crumbles under the pressure of the questioning. So his marriage probably only exists on paper and his initially very chosen expression is now occasionally interspersed with terms from the vulgar language. But Gaul also looks increasingly grim and changes from the respectful address "Maître Martinaud" to just "Martinaud". And when Gaul went to the police chief for a report and was warned by him to be as cautious as possible, his assistant Belmont was even violent against the notary.

The interrogation then continues with another clerk until Martinaud's wife Chantal appears at the police station. She reveals to Gaul in private that she thinks her husband is the perpetrator and also provides evidence of his guilt. Gaul then confronts the notary with the statement by his wife that he did not call the police from home immediately after finding the girl's body, but first changed his raincoat. When Gaul presented him with the relevant evidence of the cleaning, Martinaud initially couldn't believe that his wife had handed him over to the police in this way. Finally, shocked and resigned, he confesses the murder of the two girls.

But while he was dictating his confession and Gaul was congratulated by the police chief for solving the case, a chance discovery proves his innocence: a police officer discovered traces of blood on the trunk of a car that was stolen and then damaged in an accident. The trunk is then opened and the next victim of the girl killer is found in it. Suddenly the owner of the vehicle is urgently suspect and Gaul tears up Martinaud's confession. He leaves the police station as a free man, but when he gets into the car with his wife, he finds out that she has judged herself. Stunned, he cries out for Gaul, who is just emerging from the police station.

History of origin

The film is based on the crime novel Brainwash (English title: Brainwashing ) by the British John William Wainwright, which was first published in 1979 . Wainwright had worked as a policeman in Yorkshire for twenty years after the Second World War , including writing stories under the pseudonym Jack Ripley . The French screenwriter Michel Audiard discovered the potential of the novel and adapted it for the cinema. Audiard offered his script to the Ariane Films studio, whereupon the producers Georges Dancigers and Alexandre Mnouchkine Claude Miller entrusted the direction of the film. Miller reworked Audiard's script with screenwriter Jean Herman .

The film was shot almost entirely in chronological order in the Éclair studios in Épinay-sur-Seine ( Seine-Saint-Denis department ). The film sequence, which takes place in a hotel, was shot at the Hôtel Royal Monceau in Paris (35 avenue Hoche, Paris 8).

reception

Miller's film premiered in French cinemas on September 23, 1981. The thriller brought in a gross profit of 23 million francs (approx. 3.5 million euros ) until 1982 and was celebrated by critics and audiences. The powerful play of the two main actors Michel Serrault and Lino Ventura as well as the exciting, chamber play-like staging of Miller was praised . The film takes place almost exclusively in the inspector's office and is supplemented by flashbacks. In the Federal Republic of Germany it went to the start on February 18, 1982, in the GDR it was officially released on September 2, 1983.

In 2000 , Stephen Hopkins made a remake called Under Suspicion . In it, Gene Hackman played the role of the alleged child killer, Morgan Freeman that of the inspector. The Italian actress Monica Bellucci took on the role played by Romy Schneider. The remake, which only adhered to Claude Miller's script in the main, did not come close to the success of the original and was a financial flop in the USA.

Reviews

The lexicon of the international film praised: "Exciting intimate play about identity and the difference between legal and moral guilt, which gains its rank above all from the brilliant acting ability of the protagonists."

Remarks

  • For Romy Schneider it was the penultimate film that she shot. Shortly after The Walker of Sans-Souci ( 1982 ), she was found dead on May 29, 1982 in her apartment in Paris.
  • Lino Ventura and Claude Miller worked together for the second time in The Interrogation : The French actor had already played a leading role in the 1971 comedy Die Filzlaus Returns (Original title: Fantasia chez les ploucs ) , Miller was one of the scriptwriters.
  • Claude Miller and Michel Serrault continued their collaboration with the 1983 film Das Auge (original title: Mortelle randonnée ).

Awards

In 1982, the interrogation was nominated in eight categories for the César , the most important French film award . Although the thriller advanced to be the most successful film of the year with four trophies won, it had to admit itself in the important categories of Best Film and Best Director Jean-Jacques Annaud's fantasy film In the Beginning of the Fire . The winners included leading actor Michel Serrault as a notary suspected of murder and supporting actor Guy Marchand as a young, impulsive police inspector.

In addition, Miller's seventh directorial work by the Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma, together with Bertrand Tavernier's crime film Der Saustall, was named best film of the year. At the Montréal World Film Festival , the screenplay was awarded the Jury Prize.

César 1982

  • Best Actor (Michel Serrault)
  • Best Supporting Actor (Guy Marchand)
  • Best script
  • Best cut

Nominated in the categories

  • Best movie
  • Best director
  • Best camera
  • Best tone

Further

Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma 1982

  • Best movie

Grand prix du cinéma français 1981

  • Best movie

World Film Festival 1981

  • Jury award for the best script

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The interrogation. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used