Overview: As their popularity waned in the US, the hardboiled genre remained hugely popular and relevant throughout the 1960s and 70s in France, thanks to the successful Serie Noire imprint and a succession of new translations.

In Alain Corneau’s early films, he sought to continue the noir tradition in his native France, and was both directly and indirectly inspired by titans of hardboiled genre, including Kenneth Fearing and Jim Thompson.

A heady combination of classic noir and 70’s grit, these three darkly thrilling films are vastly underrated and important works in the canon of crime cinema.

In Police Python 357, Yves Montand (The Wages of Fear) plays a tough cop who, when his lover is found murdered, finds himself implicated in her death and in a battle of wits with a powerful rival, in the second screen adaptation of Kenneth Fearing’s The Big Clock.

Serie Noire adapts Jim Thompson’s A Hell of A Woman to the banlieues of Paris: in an astonishing performance, Patrick Dewaere (Themroc) attempts to save a young girl from prostitution, with murder the only solution.

In Choice of Arms, Yves Montand heads an all-star cast, including Catherine Denueve and Gerard Depardieu, as a former crook pulled out of retirement when a gang on the run turn to him for shelter after a prison break.

Blu-ray Verdict: Up first is Police Python 357 (1976) and is an absolute masterpiece of French Noir. Like an existential take on Dirty Harry filtered through middle-aged guy angst who have access to big pistols, it also comes complete with a love story, before transforming into a rather paranoia-fueled thriller which then becomes a descent into Hong Kong-style violent whiplash madness!

I mean, the byzantine last act is worth the price of admission alone! Good lord, what an incredible rush this film is, and sure, as much as there must be a better way to beat a police line-up than scarring your face with acid, overall the WTF ending beats anything I have seen cinematically over the past five decades!

Then we get A Hell of A Woman (1979) brought forth Patrick Dewaere, who gives one of the most energetic and insane performances I’ve ever seen. He’s like a cross between Vincent Cassel and Jim Carrey. He’s on a completely different wavelength than everyone else, which works for the character because he’s a completely delusional and terrible con man.

This is a really twisted, disturbingly funny neo-noir that feels like a more abstract Coen brothers film. My only real issue with it is that it meanders a bit and some scenes go on for too long (this really could’ve been like 90 mins) but luckily it’s so weird, surprising and engaging throughout. Really it’s just worth watching for Dewaere alone, he’s insane and completely captivating!

Also Marie Trintignant looked exactly like her dad, it so that was a little distracting, but that aside, most films lock us with the protagonist. We don’t see the world by the eyes or the words of another character. We are stuck with whoever was chosen to be the protagonist.

But here, and whilst we get a similar viewpoint, for the most part what we view is an uneasy film, sure, but if you love noir, and especially if the fiction of Jim Thompson has ever struck a chord with you, this is an unmissable landmark. Oh, and Patrick Dewaere gives a fantastic performance that will stay with you for a long while after.

Lastly we get brought forth Choice of Arms (1981), a beautiful French crime film from writer/director Alain Corneau in which the basic story concerns Noël Durieux (Yves Montand), a middle aged former gangster, who has retired to a substantial horse stud outside Paris where he breeds thoroughbreds with his wife Nicole (Catherine Deneuve).

When Serge (Pierre Forget), a former member of Noël’s gang, is wounded in an escape from prison with a younger protégé, Mickey (Gérard Depardieu), they head for Noël’s estate. Mickey has poor impulse control (he shot and killed a policeman during the escape) and is quick to anger. When he threatens Noël and shoots up a dinner party on the estate, Noël reassembles his old gang to track down and eliminate the threat Mickey poses.

The mirroring between the gangsters and the police is one of the fascinating elements in the film. In the same way that Noël falls back on his old gang, who come immediately when he calls when he is threatened, Mickey calls on his gang from before his imprisonment to protect him from Noël and the police.

There is a generational divide between Noël and his “gentlemen gangsters” and Mickey and his street punks for whom extreme violence is a first resort and hard drugs interfere with gang loyalty norms. The sub-plot involving Karine (Karine Lenoir), a big-eyed three year old poppet, skated perilously close to cloying sentimentality but is forgivable because she shows another side of Mickey’s complex psychology and because the end of her story arc provides a common point between Noël and Mickey.

Bonus Features:
High-Definition digital transfers, presented on three discs
Uncompressed mono PCM audio for each film
Audio commentary by Mike White on Police Python 357
Maxim Jakubowski on Police Python 357’s source novel and adaptation (2024)
Archival interview with Alain Corneau and François Périer about Police Python 357 from Belgian Television (1976)
Série noire set interviews with Alain Corneau, Patrick Dewaere and Miriam Boyer from Belgian Television (1981)
Série noire: The Darkness of the Soul - An archival documentary featuring cast and crew on the making of the film (2013, 53 mins)
Archival interview with Alain Corneau and Marie Trintignant about Série noire (2002, 30 mins)
A visual essay about Jim Thompson adaptations for the screen (2024)
Introduction by documentary filmmaker Jérôme Wybon (2024)
Shooting Choice of Arms - interviews with the cast and crew including behind-the-scenes footage (1981)
Interviews with Deneuve, Montand and Depardieu from the set (1981)
Interview with Manuela Lazic on Yves Montand in the 1970s (2024)
Trailers
Optional English subtitles for each film
Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
Limited edition 80-page booklet featuring new writing by Charlie Brigden, Andrew Male, Nick Pinkerton, Travis Woods, and newly translated archival interviews with Alain Corneau
Limited edition of 2500 copies, presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

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