Truly Dreadful Film

Just so...so bad

Admirable film.

A Brilliant Conflict

Thanks to ARTE TV I could see now Claude Berri's 'film noir' Tchao Pantin (or So Long, Stooge in its English version) starring Coluche in the lead role. The film was made in 1983, at a time when I was busy with changing the course of my life, and no wonder I missed it. It represents a milestone in the career of both Claude Berry who after this film took a three years break in order to create his two best known films - Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring - very different in subject and style, and also in the career of Coluche who assumes here a more 'classical' and fully dramatic role which could have been a changing point in his career. One year later however, Coluche will die in a motorcycle accident, and this film includes involuntarily kind of a premonitory coincidence as motorcycles and death play a key role in it.The story is quite a typical 'film noir' intrigue, with the key characters - a drunkard gas petrol pump seller who hides secrets of a previous tragic life and a loser type of small drug dealer of Moroccan origin who hides his own secrets among which a shelve full of books he claims to have read all, are getting together in a world were there is not much to attach to but maybe a peer similarly broken soul. There is also a girl in the film, a punk girl (we are in the early 80s, remember) but her role will become more clear only in the second part, after the younger character is murdered and the quiet and withdrawn older man engages on the path of finding the killers and revenging his friends. Typical intrigue, as I said, which has little chances to end otherwise than it ends.As a reader of the 'serie noir' books since childhood I cannot avoid falling under the charm of such stories, especially when they take place in Paris, here a Paris of decrepit houses, or messy small flats, of dangerous streets and dubious bars where everything is trafficked. I was not that surprised to find out that the cinematography belongs to Bruno Nuytten the director of Camille Claudel which I have also seen and written about recently, a film that had an amazing cinematographic look. Coluche seems in this film like having taken inspiration from other Big Silent tough guys in the history of the French cinema, his role could have been played in other times and other periods of their respective careers by screen monsters like Michel Simon or Jean Gabin. I liked the performance of Agnès Soral as the young punk girl whose profile and appearance seems to announce a quarter a century early the character of Lisbeth Salander in the Scandinavian 'Millennium' saga. While the story has been played too many times before and after this film to surprise anybody nowadays, there are many good reasons to watch or watch again this movie.

Lambert is alone. He drinks every night, working at a gas station by night, barely speaking to anybody. One night, Bensoussan, a young dealer, half-Jew, half-Arab, runs into his life. In spite of Lambert's drug hatred, a kind of friendly bond begins between them, even a father-son like relationship. But although we learn more and more about Bensoussan, we still have no clue about Lambert... Soon, Bensoussan's drugs are stolen. As he can't refund his boss Rachid, he's killed by Rachid's henchmen in front of Lambert's. Then, Lambert changes in front of us. While he's on the trail of Benoussan's murderers, killing every one of them, we finally know who he is...err, who he was. But this revenge will be both his own redemption and his fate...The title may be odd : "Tchao" is a mispronunciations of "ciao". "Pantin" means both "Dummy", "Idiot", but Pantin is a small Paris' north suburb town too. Anyway, even French people can't explain the real meaning of the title... I'm writing this as the movie is played on M6... Coluche died 20 years ago and for us, it seems like it was yesterday. We will always see him as a clown, as a nice funny guy, but "Tchao Pantin" is here to remind us that he was an actor, a real great one. Anyway, you can't be disappointed with that film : the storyline isn't very original (revenge), but the characters are so touching and pathetic that they made the movie one of the best French movies of the 80's. Sad but excellent.

Little known outside France but beloved in it Coluche, like Bourvil (of whom the same may be said) excelled at comedy but was more than competent at drama as he demonstrates here. Those who know Claude Berri mostly and/or if only for his international successes Jean de Florette and Manon des Source will perhaps be surprised at the radical change of milieu, from the sunny, well-lit and wide-open spaces of southern France to the dark, murky narrow enclosed world of demi-monde Paris small-time drug-dealers. Coluche is Lambert-no-last-name who is measuring out his life in the litres of gas he pumps as night man at a small filling station; one night a young man of mixed blood, some of it Arab, wanders in to avoid the police - he has an endearing habit of stealing mopeds and motorbikes - and an unlikely bond is slowly forged between the two, easier to understand later with the disclosure that Lambert is an ex-cop whose teenage son died of an overdose. The kid (Richard Anconia) falls foul of his own dealer and gets it where the chicken got the axe and Lambert is moved to avenge him and is himself killed for his pains. Slow to gain momentum it slowly tightens its grip on the viewer and is well worth a look.

***BEWARE: SPOILERS***Good film by Claude Berri. Lambert (Coluche) is working night-shift at the gas station. He gets to know Bensoussan (Richard Anconina), an Arab kid making money stealing motorbikes and selling them back. A strange bond develop between the two, and when Bensoussan is killed in front of Lambert, the ex-cop will turn vengeful. Cause we learn that the same thing happened to his son. And there's some clues at the end that the cycle of violence will continue, when Lola (Agnès Soral) shoots at the guys that just killed Lambert. There's no happy ending in this one. Definitely not a cheer up movie.Coluche is great. A lot of character in his face. We care for him, as for Bensoussan and Lola. Great lines too. Coluche says to Bensoussan when he learn the kid's a drug dealer: "Prends bien le temps de mourir" - "Take your time to die".Out of 100, I give it 78. That's good for **½ out of ****.Seen at home, in Toronto, on November 20th, 2002.