Das Blau der Hölle

Yves Boisset became famous for his "political movies " in the seventies,with such works as "un condé","RAS" "Dupont Lajoie" or "le juge Fayard dit le shériff".All these works ,particularly the second and the third ones ,are eminently watchable and Boisset's sincerity cannot be questioned.

"Bleu comme l'enfer" is a different matter:it was intended in order to match the American violent thrillers ,with a road movie feel thrown in for good measure.It signally fails in its purpose.The screenplay is far-fetched,where characters appear and disappear without bringing anything to the plot.All the secondary characters are uninteresting,from the cop's sister-in -law (in love with him) to the gangsters ,from the gas station man to the family-with-the-delightful-little-girl.

The three leads are the classic triangle,no more no less;Lambert Wilson is too subtle an actor to play such an empty-headed hoodlum.Tcheky Karyo's part (the cop) is more interesting but it does not avoid clichés for all that ;and the female part is bland ,the actress 's just being lovely.

In the nineties ,Yves Boisset went back to former glories.He directed a made-for-TV "le pantalon rouge",which was,relatively speaking,as moving and disturbing as Kubrik's "paths of glory".