Adieu blaireau

Bob Decout's 1985 thriller "Adieu Blaireau" premiered at the Cognac Festival in 1985. Starring the late french crooner Philippe Léotard, Annie Girardot and Juliette Binoche. The film opens with Léotard's Fred wandering around an underground carpark with a gun muttering the name BB. Cut to titles and the films plot, which will eventually bring us back to this carpark.

The plot is fairly simple: Fred is a petty criminal and a gambler with debts. He was dating a vastly younger woman BB (Binoche) who wants nothing more to do with him. He however is obsessed with the young woman. He is recruited by crime boss victor to carry out a hit to pay for his debt. On the first attempt he is faced with someone out to kill him. He then meets the melancholic Collette a woman of his own age, who knows exactly what he does for a living but is happy to turn a blind eye. The second attempt to carry out the hit leads to the carpark we first see him in and eventually to an empty theatre where things come to a grisly conclusion as Fred realises he may have been betrayed...

Decout's film is melancholic and dark, both visually and emotionally. All the characters seem to have been damaged by life. The film is also strongly influenced by the times. Strong blues and greys offset by neons light many scenes, while shadows and a jazzy score strongly root the film in the 1980s.

Léotard gives a sure, but unremarkable performance as the jaded Fred. Equally jaded is Annie Girardot's Collette. Seeing her here it > is hard to believe she was the number 1 French actress for a time in the 1970s. Juliette Binoche appears only very briefly as BB, the woman of Freds obsessions.

"Adieu Blaireau" is entertaining, yet the characters are quite limited and visually the film is dark and somewhat staid. the direction by Decout, is sure yet un-remarkable. there is nothing here that isn't in many other french thrillers of the mid 80s.