I can't believe that this movie has no comments and hardly any votes. It's a tough 1982 thriller set in Paris' Algerian sector. A specialist Police Unit pressurise a pimp and his hooker into becoming informants to enable them to bring down a local gangster. Although directed by an American (spot the U.S. film posters at the Police Station),the film is full of French style. The clothes, the food, the shades... The pacing is fast, the plot is good and the characters are fascinating. Baye is incredibly sexy as the 'tart with a heart' and Leotard looks suitably seedy as the pimp in love with her. It's a strange relationship, letting your lover have sex with strangers in order to put money in the joint account! I also like the way that the cops, who arrest and harass hookers, are shown to be willing to use their services on lonely nights. Pace, excitement, black humour and romance. What more can one ask from a thriller? 8/10

A small time ex-con (Phillipe Leotard as Dede) and his prostitute girlfriend Nicole (Nathalie Baye) are relentlessly pressured by an aggressive and at time brutal police squad led by Mathias Palouzi (Richard Berry) to inform on the mob. Using any means necessary, playing one off against the other, humiliation, beatings, or threats, the couple is forced to become informants on underworld leader Roger Massina (Maurice Ronet). The love story is at the heart of the film, while the cops and crooks make up opposite ends, though they often employ similar means. Berry seems to flourish in the middle, beating up on Dede while playing a little softer with his girlfriend Nicole. A fast pace takes us whizzing through some great Paris locations, through a stagey looking though fairly impressive shootout on a crowded street, and several seedy dead end alleyways. Many of the underworld characterizations are terrific, and the classy soundtrack (especially the ending) is perfect for the mood.

This is one of those realistic polars where you can't tell the cops from the hoods without a scorecard. The premise is simplicity itself; the star balance (informer) of the Belleville district is assassinated in the first minutes leaving the local cops with a vacancy to fill. Their thinking turns to Dede (Leotard) a small time pimp with only one client (Nathalie Baye) who is reluctant to say the least. The name Dede or its female version Dedee is something of a constant in French movies, in 1948, Simone Signoret played Dedee of Anvers (a hooker) for her then husband Yves Allegret, but that's just an aside. Baye and Leotard had been an item in real-life but had broken up by the time the film was shot largely due to Leotard's drink and drugs problem but the genuine affection between them informs every scene they play together. The main thrust of the plot involves Belleville's Mr 'Big' (Maurice Ronet) and his 'enforcer', Belge, a certified ding-dong (or, if you're French, dingue-dong). Shot by Illinois-born Bob Swaim, this is in the finest tradition of the 'polar' with outstanding ensemble acting - and we really should mention multi-talented Richard Berry as Leotard's nemesis - and a great set-piece involving a multi-car pile up and a shoot-out in the street. Definitely one of the all-time great post-war French polars.