A small masterpiece about the absurdity of life. Love and (gratuitous) violence are the main themes of this Labro's film in which we see criminologist Laurent Bermann (Montand) residing in that madhouse called Cote d'Azur and being assaulted by a strange type in a hotel toilet. He begins a love relationship with Dr. Constance Weber (Katharine Ross) and is eventually called by the police to identify the corpse of his assaulter. Later on he's assaulted again, this time on the strand, and he dies in the arms of the woman doctor. The viewer keeps expecting something to happen that will validate his patience, but zip. Nada. Not much violence or action, no real nudity, no real memorable acting. But a lot of crazy gestures and queer situations. And this is just what the director wanted. He keeps the mirror in front of life -- and of us. The message is: life is meaningless, because of fate.

I had never heard of this film before but it turned out to be quite a strange little item, interesting and stylishly handled (with the disorientating editing and the score by Michel Colombier particularly notable).

Still, its point - other than being a denunciation of gratuitous violence, offset by a complex romance (Yves Montand and Katharine Ross make a nice couple here, even if their characters are pretty much left deliberately in the dark!) - is obscure, resulting in a generally pretentious film also taking in the justice system (Montand had been wrongfully imprisoned during the war and now, on revisiting his old cell, provides the current inmate with a means to escape!).

The most memorable thing about it, though, is the almost surreal presence of a karate-happy hooligan who, first, fells Montand in the lavatory of a hotel and, then, demolishes a confectionery owned by a pair of elderly female twins(!)...though he gets his just desserts soon after this hilarious episode.

What a weird film, especially from Philippe Labro, a former journalist, great friend of late Jean Pierre Melville whom he saw dying under his eyes in a Paris restaurant, in August 1973. Labro was very under Melville influence and, as him, under the American film industry style too; see his other features. But back to this very one, he changes drastically of style, and after all why not? I would have never guessed it was from him if I had watched it without knowing the director's name in the first place. I am not surprised that so few people like this film. Some scenes, with the karate mad dude seems inspired by Jacques Tati's style; watch out the bakery sequence, but not the violence scene related to it of course. Tati was everything but not violence demonstration oriented. Don't try too hard to understand this film whilst watching it, just enjoy and think about it afterwards. I think that's the best thing to do. It is definitely worth.