Police Python 357

Inspector Marc Ferrot, working in a provincial city, is shaken when the woman he has been seeing is murdered. The investigation is handed to him. The evidence points at him, and he has to hunt the killer while erasing his own traces. His superior was involved with the same woman. Alain Corneau directed. Yves Montand plays Ferrot, Simone Signoret the superior's wife. The film carries the American crime template into France; the gun in the title and the rhythm say so openly. The tension Corneau builds is not about being caught but about handling evidence: the viewer watches the policeman investigate and sabotage at the same time, step by step. Simone Signoret's character, in a wheelchair, carries the film's strongest sections. The score is by Georges Delerue. It was among the most watched French crime films of its period. Who it is for: viewers who like seventies French crime cinema and Montand. Who it is not for: anyone expecting fast action; the film is slow and mechanical.