Witness for the prosecution
"Dernier domicile connu" was shown the other day on a French cable channel. This was the third film of Jose Giovanni, a man who wrote extensively for the French cinema and went on to direct his own material. Mr. Giovanni's forte was the "policier" in which he excelled with the themes he decided to tackle, as he proves here.This film shows a felicitous casting with Lino Ventura and Marlene Jobert in the principal roles. Both actors show an easy chemistry between them as two police following the trail of a man wanted to testify in a judicial process. To make things different the two cops decide to concentrate in the daughter of the man being sought. The pivotal witness is not their key interest, knowing that of they find the little girl, she will lead them to the father, while at the same time, opposing criminals try to outsmart the policemen.
Mr. Giovanni, who based his screenplay on a Joseph Harrington novel of the same title, takes the viewer all over the Paris of those years, taking the viewer all over the city, setting the story in out of the way places many visitors never get to see. The best thing in the film is a young, and fresh, Marlene Jobert, perfect as the rookie detective. Lino Ventura is effective as the tough as nails cop working against the clock to get to the witness.
score 7/10
jotix100 4 December 2012
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2714705/34925
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