A policeman and a serial killer play cat and mouse in an isolated mountain village in Nineteenth century France.A policeman and a serial killer play cat and mouse in an isolated mountain village in Nineteenth century France.A policeman and a serial killer play cat and mouse in an isolated mountain village in Nineteenth century France.
- Director
- Writer
- Jean Giono(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaHaving made friends with Jean Giono, Édouard Molinaro was asked by the writer to co-write and direct the film. They did write a first draft of the script and went as far as to scout locations in the Aubrac region but the project failed for production reasons. François Leterrier took over two years later.
- SoundtracksPourquoi faut-il que les Hommes s'Ennuient ?
Music by Jacques Brel
Lyrics by Jacques Brel
Performed by Jacques Brel
Featured review
60 years old and without a wrinkle
First I must pay homage to a fine actor, Claude Giraud, who is no longer with us. It is a sadness too for the cinema that he did not make enough films, especially of this quality. When this film came out in France 60 years ago it went against the modish fashions of the times, but unlike so many of those films it does not show a single wrinkle. Perhaps it is because it was a costume drama set in the 19th C, and this made it timeless, but personally I do not think so. Like all films like this with such magical ambiguity it cannot be explained. Giraud is a detective in uniform; a young man who is seemingly lost in the cold wintry landscape of a remote region in France. He is looking for a murderer and unexpectedly finds a truth about himself that he is unable to bear. The thread of a haunting song by Jacques Brel about why men are bored is as melancholy as the snowy region of relentless whiteness that appears to have no end. It accentuates the boredom that makes men murder without a hint of physical sexual desire, but solely motivated by the act of murder itself. Boredom is the thrill of human annihilation. Perhaps this is more relevant today than it was back then in the more optimistic nineteen-sixties. No spoilers, but a plea for this film to be rediscovered and to my knowledge it has never been shown in the UK, or the USA. A shame on us for preferring the fashionable to the essential.
helpful•20
- jromanbaker
- Jan 11, 2023
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- A King Without Distraction
- Filming locations
- Les Hermaux, Lozère, France(village where the action is set)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 25 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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Top Gap
By what name was Un roi sans divertissement (1963) officially released in Canada in English?
Answer