Flic Story

France, 1947. The policeman Roger Borniche is handed a file: Emile Buisson. He is considered the most dangerous man in the country, he has escaped from an asylum, and nobody knows where he is. The pursuit lasts nine years. Borniche hardly uses a gun; his method is patience, paperwork, informants and waiting. The film is built as a contest of minds rather than action, and a strange closeness grows between the two men. Buisson is shown as a real killer and never romanticised, while Borniche is no hero either, only a stubborn functionary. Jacques Deray directed, adapting Borniche's own memoir with Alphonse Boudard. Alain Delon plays Borniche and Jean-Louis Trintignant plays Buisson; Delon also produced. The story is true: Emile Buisson was executed on 28 February 1956. The film drew over one million nine hundred and seventy thousand admissions in France. Who it is for: anyone who likes seventies French crime cinema and manhunts drawn from real cases. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace. Nine years compressed into two hours means the story keeps skipping, and the investigation passages in the middle repeat themselves.