Série noire (film)

In 1978, Alain Corneau gained recognition with his feature films Police Python 357 and La Menace. For his next film, the director wished to shoot a film in the realistic vein of Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets without music but containing the hits of the time, in real settings.[5] Corneau originally intended to collaborate with author Jim Thompson to adapt one of his novels, Pop 1280, but the project was aborted.[6] Finally, the director focused on another Thompson novel, A Hell of a Woman, and wrote the script in collaboration with Georges Perec.[6] Adapting Thompson's novel for the big screen posed many problems for Corneau and Perec, because the two men had to reduce the imposing story of the novelist for a cinematographic treatment, then set about writing a story adapted to the French way of life.[5]

For the character of Frank Poupart, Corneau wanted Patrick Dewaere, even if it meant giving up filming it if the actor refused.[6][7] The two men met in a bistro to talk about the project.[5] Dewaere then threw himself on the script, of which he obtained three versions, and contacted Corneau the same evening to tell him that he absolutely wanted the role.[5] This was indeed the project that the actor has been waiting for.[5] During the weeks preceding filming, the actor never stopped talking about the film and its role, either to those around him or to journalists.[5] He was so obsessed with the film and his character that he stole a gray raincoat from Tati de Barbès while he was walking in the famous Parisian district, thinking that it would be perfect for the character.[5] The actor did not hesitate to use his deepest sufferings to give life to the character, thus permanently confusing reality and fiction.[5] This extraordinary investment even made him lose ten pounds in a few weeks.[5] The role of the enigmatic and taciturn Mona is entrusted to the young Marie Trintignant,[6] whose cinematographic experience had been limited to participation in films made by her mother, Nadine, who was Corneau's partner. The role of Poupart's wife was entrusted to Myriam Boyer, with whom Dewaere got along very well[5] and whose John Berry, Boyer's companion, had played Dewaere's father in F ... Comme Fairbanks.[8]

Bernard Blier, chosen to play Frank's boss, was very eager to work with Dewaere, who had appeared in two films directed by his son, Bertrand, who had become a longtime friend of Dewaere, and who shared the same state of mind as his elder friend.[8]

Série noire was filmed in six weeks with a budget of FRF 2 million.[8] The film was shot mainly in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés and Créteil. Myriam Boyer also explains how “thin” the film's budget was, with a very small teamb. Being attentive to Dewaere's remarks, Corneau abandoned the idea of improvisations, but wanted spontaneous situations, taken on the spot. He innovates by shooting with two or three cameras with very little lighting (the chief operator Pierre-William Glenn will use film more sensitive than normal) and takes few shots.[8] In addition, sound is recorded live with wireless high frequency microphones worn by the actors.

The atmosphere on this shootout is nevertheless intense, Dewaere really bangs his head on the hood of a car during the scene where his character hits his head on his vehicle.[5] Dewaere asked the director to be ready to shoot this scene, shot in a vacant lot one morning when it was minus fifteen degrees, because he did not want to do it many times and refused to be overtaken by a stuntman.[5] In addition, the actor knows a dependence on the drug but remains however always perfectly lucid during all the duration of the shooting and masters his text to perfection.[9][6] Dewaere takes care of Marie Trintignant, being attentive and protective for the young actress then aged 16. The actress will even say that in this film, "I have the impression that we all threw ourselves into the scenes, into the elements, like animals ... It was a violent film. Everything was violent!".[10] After a strong sequence where the character played by Dewaere beats that of Myriam Boyer, the actor reveals to his partner that he had the impression of hitting his mother (Mado), as if to settle his accounts with ellef. The scene where Frank strangled and killed Jeanne in a violent manner was extremely hard to film.[5] After filming it, Dewaere returns home in a daze and tells friends who asked him what's wrong, "but do you realize that today I killed someone? It is not nothing to kill someone".[5] Having a deep respect for Bernard Blier, Dewaere dares not slap him in the face for the final scene, but Blier insists, forcing Dewaere to slap him real slaps.[8]