CLASSE TOUS RISQUES (110’)
by Claude Sautet
cast: Lino Ventura, Sandra Milo, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Marcel Dalio
France, 1960
Restoration curated by TF1 Studio
Introduced by Elena Pollacchi
Screening in the original language
“Here, prior to the major works of Melville, is the true beginning of the modern European crime film. This vision was the creation of director Claude Sautet, profoundly related to his later studies of the middle class, and of José Giovanni, whose contribution to two other masterpieces such as Le Trou and Le deuxième souffle, was equally formidable. All of Sautet’s greatness is present in his first film. It starts as a family saga and soon deepens into a study of loss and the emotionally unbearable realities that constitute the price of crime. The faces of Lino Ventura and Jean-Paul Belmondo light up the screen and remind us what a fabulous director of actors Sautet already was. […] Everything emotive is eliminated in a “Hemingway” approach. We get the bare minimum. A scene conveyed in almost blitz-like images gains emotional grandeur. The characters are like nomads by the sea in images that remind us of Fellini and perhaps particularly La strada.” (Peter Von Bagh)
“You believe you’re always the slickest, and then you sink ever lower… until you’re no longer anything”, says Davos: a man (inspired by a real criminal, Abel Danos) teetering between anarchy and a paradoxical normalcy (the family, the affection, the righteousness of his code of honour), which leads in the end to almost metaphysical solitude and nausea […] Stark and classical in its style, it stands the test of time well and may be considered one of the best French noirs of all time.” (Paolo Mereghetti)
