The seventh juror
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The seventh juror |
| Original title | Le Septième Juré |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1962 |
| length | 95 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Georges Lautner |
| script | Jacques Robert, Pierre Laroche |
| production | Lucien Viard |
| music |
Jean Yatove , Antonio Vivaldi |
| camera | Maurice Fellous |
| cut | Michelle David |
| occupation | |
| |
The seventh jury member (original title: Le Septième Juré ) is a French crime drama from 1961 by Georges Lautner based on the novel of the same name by Francis Didelot (1958) with Bernard Blier and Danièle Delorme in the leading roles.
action
A small French town in the Doubs . Vacationers romp around the water when the pharmacist Grégoire Duval treats himself to a walk after lunch in the beach café. Meanwhile, his colleague Philibert fell asleep. A few meters further on, Sylvain Sautral is just leaving his friend Catherine Nortier, who is lying by the water and sleeping. He turns off her radio, takes money out of her pocket with gloves and leaves. This is observed by a rower. A little later, Grégoire Duval discovers the sleeping Catherine. He is standing over the naked woman when she wakes up and holds a scarf in front of her breasts. Surprised by sexual pleasure, Grégoire wants to kiss her, but Catherine yells for help. Grégoire, who fears his wife rowing on the lake might hear this, strangles her and leaves the scene. He returns to the beach café, where his colleague Philibert is still sitting; nobody saw him leave. However, his wife Geneviève notices the scratches on his arm from Catherine's brief resistance. Grégoire is plagued by remorse.
It soon becomes clear to the population that Sylvain Sautral is the killer. Too much evidence speaks against him. It turns out that Grégoire is appointed as a jury member. He doesn't want to surrender, but still wants to prove Sylvain's innocence. In a church in Switzerland he confesses his guilt to a priest, who at least informs the court of an anonymous confession. But the commissioner and the public prosecutor are not interested. In the court hearing, however, Grégoire repeatedly asked questions that exonerate Sylvain. So it turns out that an argument the rower heard as a witness came from the radio. The fact that Sylvain was wearing gloves is not an incriminating evidence either, because the witness Sevestrain, who was the first to find the body, remembers during an inspection of the crime scene that there was a scarf on the dead man's neck.
Rather, the court questions the unconventional lifestyle of Sylvain and Catherine: How could Sylvain not have been jealous of his girlfriend's short-term lovers? Among them was the veterinarian Dr. Hess, with whom Grégoire meets again and again. Hess thinks that the murderer must have been some petty bourgeoisie who had had enough of Catherine's sexual permissiveness and “executed her without a trial”. In the course of the trial, Geneviève Duval realizes that her husband Grégoire is the murderer, but she remains silent. In court, Sylvain's ex-girlfriend, Alice, confesses that she still loves him. She is sure that he could never have committed murder.
Although Sylvain is acquitted on the basis of Grégoire's many clues, the residents continue to believe that he is the murderer. Grégoire tells Geneviève that he will surrender. But the inspector laughs at him. Based on his knowledge of the facts, he did some research and found that Duval had a watertight alibi (the sleeping Philibert). Duval goes to Sylvain and asks him to leave town. Sylvain shows him a pistol and explains that it is a key to another world without evil petty bourgeoisie. Duval tries to take the pistol from him, a shot goes off and Sylvain dies, thanking Duval that he really saved him.
Duval wants to confess his death in an accident, but his wife has already called two men in white coats. She'd rather be considered crazy than a murderer. So Duval goes to the mental hospital, a different kind of prison for him.
Remarks
Bernard Blier and Danièle Delorme are shooting together for the fourth time. They were previously Javert and Fantine in Die Elenden (1958), also played together in Without Specifying the Address (1951) and in The Black Files (1955).
Reviews
“The unrecognized murderer of a girl, a pharmacist in a small French town, is used as a jury member in the trial of the murder suspect. He achieves an acquittal with difficulty, but is only imperfectly able to atone for his own guilt. Well constructed, but exciting detective film, which paints a critical picture of provincial narrowness and tries to pass off the double standards of its hero as the product of an ailing society. "
Web links
- The seventh jury in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The seventh juror. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 6, 2016 .