A Major Disappointment

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

IMDb synopsis says that Franck Poupart, played by Patrick Dewaere, is 'slightly neurotic'. It's actually much worse, Poupart is a complete maniac, left unsupervised in a jungle of HLM, terrains vagues, poverty and filth. He even readily mumbles to himself that he's psychotic.I heard of Série noire when looking up Dewaere bio on wikipedia. It was mentioned how physically hard the filming was on the actors, and on Dewaere in particular. The characters keep fighting and shouting at each other, and they won't stop until they're completely exhausted or drunk. Except of course for Blier, who plays the soft spoken treacherous coward. I found this movie very close in spirit to Zola who would place weak personalities in a closed environment to sadistically observe what happens. Everyone is to blame for what happens, everyone is guilty. This is a true chef d'œuvre, but a disturbing one, the kind of movie you'll be thinking of for days to come. It's all about madness, and you'll wonder how far you are from falling into it.

I was really really really looking forward to finally seeing this one, and was somewhat disappointing to find that the story is weak and the pacing even weaker. Patrick Deaware is fine--he actually reminded me a bit of various other actors here (he kind of looks like Vincent Gallo from Buffalo 66 and The Brown Bunny here but there's also a little bit of Johnny Depp here if you squint a bit) Honestly the film is a lot slower then it should of been--and i feel like once the big turn of the plot happens--there's not much else to keep the viewer interested in what else might happen (ie--there's not much else to the story even though the film keeps going on as if there is) I liked the little dances that Deaware's character keeps doing--and i like how it becomes clearer and clearer that he's not just a likable eccentric--he's actually certifiably insane as the film continues on--but even so you're kind of with him through most of the film---at least i was---and that's not a bad thing for a film noir....after all you're supposed to be on the main character's side--and as the film kept going on, i liked that that notion becomes more and more difficult to sustain---really makes you question the notion of why we're supposed to like the main character in most movies like this---which is a neat trick for a movie to pull but the story is just so empty after a while i was just happy to latch onto anything that i could just to maintain interest in what was happening.I very very much loved Andreas Katsulas's performance as Tikedes here---and if anything wish that he had been given even more screen time then the handful of scenes that he has here---Love his entrance in the film with him running head first into the glass door of a telephone booth that Deaware is holding himself in to keep from being killed by this great bull of a man. Its quite a character entrance! This is i suspect one of those films that should a proper region 1 DVD release ever come out a great cult of film lovers will gather around and admire as a real true pitch black noir--but i couldn't quite bring myself to love it as i felt the pacing of the thing was just too sluggish for me to really get into, especially in the second half when i was eagerly awaiting the other shoe to drop so to speak. Would that the entire film worked as well as say the first 15, 20 minutes of the film--which had me so ready for anything that the fact that not much happen during the rest of the film is just that much more disappointing.

Serie noire is an excellent french movie, especially because of the acting of Patrick Dewaere, unfortunately dead now. The atmosphere is noire and tough and it is impossible not to be touched by the sensibility of this personnage play by Patrick dewaere. This is one of my favourite films of the seventies.

There is in this movie one of the best scenes ever to be seen on. Deweare is outside on a parking place, in the night in the city. He shouts etc. About love. I don't remember exactly what he says, but the sadness, lostness, despair and loneliness in the city that he is expressing, the image this scene is offering has been one of my main inspirations for my artwork. This movie makes me really cry, so much it touched me in my heart. It is like a religious experience, this image of estrangement in modern lost times in the city.