Directed by Bertrand Tavernier • 1981 • France
Starring Philippe Noiret, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Pierre Marielle
An inspired rendering of Jim Thompson’s pulp novel POP. 1280, Bertrand Tavernier’s COUP DE TORCHON deftly transplants the story of an inept police chief turned heartless killer and his scrappy mistress from the American South to French West Africa. Featuring pitch-perfect performances by Philippe Noiret and Isabelle Huppert, this striking neonoir straddles the line between violence and lyricism with dark humor and visual elegance.
Up Next in Part 1: The Films
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A Sunday in the Country
Directed by Bertrand Tavernier • 1984 • France
Starring Louis Ducreux, Michel Aumont, Sabine AzémaBertrand Tavernier paints a bittersweet family portrait with a delicacy worthy of Ozu. On a Sunday in 1912, Monsieur Ladmiral (Louis Ducreux), a painter in the twilight of his life, gets together w...
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Daddy Nostalgia
Directed by Bertrand Tavernier • 1990 • France
Starring Dirk Bogarde, Jane Birkin, Odette LaureDirk Bogarde delivers a spirited final screen performance opposite Jane Birkin in this poignant and perceptive tale about the regrets that mark a lifetime. As a father to his screenwriter daughter Car...
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L.627
Directed by Bertrand Tavernier • 1992 • France
Starring Didier Bezace, Jean-Paul Comart, Charlotte KadyThis absorbing, unfailingly naturalistic procedural goes inside the world of the Parisian police department as it struggles to control the drug trade. Through the eyes of Lucien Marguet (Didie...
