Novelist, justice campaigner and political activist Gilles Perrault wrote 'Le Derapage' in 1987. He was not involved in this adaptation and by all accounts was thoroughly displeased with the finished product.
Speaking as one who has not read the original I would have to say that this is certainly one of Jacques Deray's best films and is arguably the finest of his nine collaborations with Alain Delon since 'La Piscine' twenty-five years earlier. Sincere apologies to devotees of 'Borsalino'!
Having successfully defended the young Frederic on a charge of having murdered both his parents lawyer Dunand is then informed by his client that he is in fact guilty.......
This is less like a film than a play that occasionally strays outside the proscenium arch and relies on the cat-and-mouse-game between Delon as Dunand and Manuel Blanc as Frederic. There are manifold twists and turns here but the film is driven by character rather than plot and both actors are splendid. Blanc here is following up his Cesar as 'most promising newcomer' in 'J'embrasse pas' and Delon has his most interesting role since his own Cesar winning performance in the bizarre 'Notre Histoire' of 1984.
One critic has said of Delon in this that behind every iconic star there is a great actor struggling to get out. I think that Monsieur Delon had already proved on more than one occasion that given the right material and director, he is capable of excellent performances. He made one more film with Deray and also had a stab at playing Casanova, although physically miscast. He went on to make his mark on the small screen but in terms of performance quality his portayal of Dunand represents his filmic last hurrah.
When Deray shuffled off this mortal coil in 2003 he got a mention from President Jacques Chirac but was overlooked at the Cesar ceremony that year. Oversight or cinematic snobbery? I wonder.
