A Frenchman living in Switzerland may look like a douce, prosperous investment banker, but in reality he is an agent working for the French espionage service. He hasn't heard from his bosses for a long time and that suits him just fine, since he's looking forward to a peaceful old age in the company of his loving wife. One day, however, he receives a coded sign saying that he has been re-activated as a spy. The poor man is about to be swept along in a stream of mutually contradictory orders, messages, contacts, assignments. This could be funny, save for the fact that there are people dying left, right and center...
Quite a good spy movie with a clever, intricate plot. The poor protagonist (a very fine performance by Lino Ventura, here) evolves in a twilight world where every warm body could be a friend, an enemy, or someone who is still deciding whether to become a friend or an enemy. As a result the ambiguity can be cut with a knife, as can the paranoia. The movie's plot travels between France, Germany and Switzerland, with inventive use being made of the various locations.
As modern viewers we can watch the movie with a certain distance - that's the luxury of living a few decades later - but much of the material must have cut close to the bone, what with the plot involving, among other things, a radical ultra-left terrorist gang committing bomb attacks and political assassinations.
As I've said, quite a good movie, but it demands close and continuous attention - miss a few minutes and you might miss out on a clue, a twist, a new character...
Quite a good spy movie with a clever, intricate plot. The poor protagonist (a very fine performance by Lino Ventura, here) evolves in a twilight world where every warm body could be a friend, an enemy, or someone who is still deciding whether to become a friend or an enemy. As a result the ambiguity can be cut with a knife, as can the paranoia. The movie's plot travels between France, Germany and Switzerland, with inventive use being made of the various locations.
As modern viewers we can watch the movie with a certain distance - that's the luxury of living a few decades later - but much of the material must have cut close to the bone, what with the plot involving, among other things, a radical ultra-left terrorist gang committing bomb attacks and political assassinations.
As I've said, quite a good movie, but it demands close and continuous attention - miss a few minutes and you might miss out on a clue, a twist, a new character...